The opportunities, challenges, and rewards of ‘community peer research’: reflections on research practice

This paper shares reflections from a group of academic researchers at the same University on their experience of conducting ‘community peer research’ projects involving non-academics in social research. We review a range of literature that has influenced the development of our practice, stressing the importance of co-production and power relations. We present six case studies that represent the breadth of our different engagements with community peer research, and then go on to reflect on the challenges and benefits of this approach. We identify a number of practical challenges, ways in which we overcame them, and in particular stress the importance of providing well-designed training for community peer researchers. We conclude with some recommendations for other researchers looking to conduct similar research.