Our findings revealed that the involvement of CRs brought both advantages and complexities, with important implications for the CRs themselves, the university researchers and the products of the research. We organise our findings around key cross-cutting themes, each of which illustrates the ways in which practical, methodological and ethical issues were interrelated.
Insider ‘closeness’
The CRs’ familiarity with their local communities offered significant advantages in terms of being able to recruit study participants who would otherwise have remained outside of the research. Many of the CRs drew on their diverse personal networks of family and friends to engage participants, enabling us to establish a respondent sample efficiently. The CRs themselves felt that their own identity—being physically and socially ‘close’ to the subjects of the research—gave them an advantage in recruitment. In one CR’s words: “If it’s about Ghanaians, then I’m a Ghanaian so I could relate to Ghanaians easily” (CR1).
Furthermore, most of the CRs argued that their involvement in the research brought invaluable lived experiences and ‘insider’ contextual knowledge to the project. They argued that their involvement both facilitated the posing of sensitive questions and allowed for a deeper interpretation of the data generated. In answer to the question ‘How important do you think it is that local people are involved as community researchers?’, CRs responded:
I think it is important. I’ve listened to the argument to say that non-local people can be just as effective and I think there is a point in that, but I think overall it is important because we’re dealing with inequalities here and the inequalities that we’re dealing with … non-local people may not even have realised that, you know, there are a lot of people in the local [area] who are here illegally and their lack of sensitivity is because they’re not [local] … [It] can often misread, you know, the situation [and] people’s reluctance … in bringing up [and] answering straightforward questions … it can be misinterpreted. (CR2)
I think it’s very, very important. You see they [CRs] have some knowledge that they can bring on board into the [research] and then they have contacts that they access … and they have some experiences that would be very relevant to the project, so I think they’re very important. (CR1)
Nobody knows a community like the people that live there… I definitely feel you’d miss a lot if you didn’t have local people involved. (CR8)
Though the CRs were able to encourage participation in some quarters, since ‘insider’ status was defined by a multiplicity of geographical, cultural and social identifiers, some CRs struggled to engage some sections of their ‘community’. In one case, social class and migration status were identified as key characteristics that demarcated social distance between the CR and the participants and undermined an open interview:
Ghanaians have a tendency not trusting each other especially with those who do not have right of abode in this country will be suspicious with any affluent Ghanaian, you know, coming … you know, telling them things and asking them questions. If you’re looking at it also from the point of view that … that from one social class to the other, as you were asking earlier, then they will only have to say why … why is somebody like me coming to, you know, interview them …Although I’m a Ghanaian, I’m a stranger in their home. (CR1)
In another example, a female CR reported not wishing to interview men from her ethnic community after a negative previous experience in which a male respondent dominated her and was generally difficult. In another case, a lack of strong personal networks resulted in the CR adopting an inappropriate strategy in an attempt to recruit participants.
I ended up going for a couple of half days just on the streets in Tottenham, stopping passers-by … looked like they might be ill or … and I found that hard work, going up to strangers and suddenly asking them personal questions, but I didn’t particularly enjoy that at all. (CR8)
More generally, CRs recognised that being ‘too close’ could in fact undermine some respondents’ willingness to speak freely, with suspicion sometimes being a barrier to rich interview data. Similarly, CRs recognised that though shared ethnic identity might provide a CR with useful insight and understanding, such identities are contingent, fluid and intersected by other factors so that ‘insider knowledge’ could not be taken for granted.
Interviewer: So is it particularly important for members of ethnic minority groups to be involved as [community researchers] …?
CR2: Yes. Yes, I do … And it’s not just every … any ethnic minority person. I think you want somebody with that experience, not somebody who qualifies by ethnicity, but somebody who qualifies both ethnicity and also experience and knowledge.
While the CRs were able to enter their communities and gain access to individuals more easily than the university researchers, being close to the community had some adverse consequences for the CRs. Listening to difficult stories, learning about previously unknown events in the community and being powerless to change things were identified by some CRs as difficult to cope with.
It was difficult when they were getting emotional and then I started feeling a bit tearful and tried to hold back my emotions and thinking, “Oh my god, I’m a community researcher. I shouldn’t be doing this.” (CR4)
Respondent concerns regarding confidentiality of information were noted by some CRs, and they felt that some individuals were reluctant to speak to them in detail about sensitive issues. Areas of sensitivity included issues around residency status, welfare benefits and some personal information.
Mostly they opened up, but on a couple of occasions, maybe, they didn’t open up because they thought, “Where is she going to give this information to? What is she going to do?” in terms of status and asylum and all that kind of stuff. (CR4)
In the community lots of … lots of people they just … they don’t want to lose their benefit or their anything, so they just … they think like yeah, “Let us be like this. Don’t need to talk about this.”(CR5)
It was also clear that some CRs found maintaining confidentiality difficult, particularly where information had significance for others and disclosure could be construed as in people’s best interest. In this way, CRs could be placed in difficult situations and ethical procedures had to be reiterated at regular intervals to ensure understanding and adherence by all.
CR involvement in the research had significant effects on their relationships with community members beyond the life of the project. CRs lived and, in some cases, worked in the communities under study and so encountered the research respondents repeatedly following completion of the study. In some cases this presented the CR with dilemmas. The process of conducting the research had allowed the CRs access to information about people’s illnesses and private lives that they would not normally be privy to. Following the research, it was difficult for CRs to know whether to pretend that they did not know anything about the issues that had been shared or to show concern and enquire after the situation. In a couple of cases, CRs reported that their friendship with particular individuals had been adversely affected. CRs also reported forming strong attachments to some respondents or feeling responsible for them.
I remember going home and saying to my wife that, you know, I’ve met this guy with a kidney problem and da, da, da, da … normally we wouldn’t discuss work, but I’m saying, “I think, you know what, I’m thinking of asking him to come and spend weekends, you know, just on the day, not sleeping over, but just come and sit by us and, you know, with the kids around” and, you know, and I’m thinking, you know, “Where am I going with this?” (CR2)
Some CRs reported feeling obliged to make telephone calls, pay visits or try to help in other ways following completion of the research, and some clearly found the situation distressing.
There was nothing that I could do to help them … They [community members] thought it’s good that I can put their points across and I thought it was good that they thought that, “Because she’s Pakistani, because she speaks the language, maybe our problems will get solved and she can do something.” (CR4)
In many cases, CRs felt that they had taken favours in order to complete the research, for instance by taking people’s time for interview or using their contacts or space to arrange data collection activities. The ongoing nature of their relationship with these community members implied the need for such favours to be repaid in some way. Thus, CRs ended the research study indebted to community members in a more serious way than the university research team, who could move on.
Being close to the community under study brought other complications too. One CR, for example, reported that community members had enquired about the state of her marriage and commented on her weight and that she found it difficult to counter gossip, suggesting that the role brought her into the community spotlight in a negative way.
The issue of monetary payment also brought dilemmas to the research process as payments to CRs could be interpreted by some as money for the ‘community’. In some cases, it was queried why the individual CR should benefit from something that related to the community more generally, and people also questioned how certain individuals had been recruited to the role. CRs themselves debated how fair it was to ask respondents to give their time for free (an approach that was adopted in order to be consistent with other activities ongoing in the locality by our partner community organisation), especially as many of those interviewed were from disadvantaged backgrounds. CRs told us that they would have liked to have been able to offer respondents something in return for their time.
I did feel a bit cheeky about that especially with the poorer communities because obviously most of these people aren’t working or … or part-time or low paid. It’s … to ask them to give their time for free … yeah, I did feel a bit cheeky doing all that especially when I knew that I was being paid for it, so … the most you could … be able to offer them was a cup of tea. (CR8)
Role conflict and reflexivity
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that playing the role of CR was difficult for some since it conflicted with other local roles and identities that they already had. In particular, some CRs struggled to ‘step back’, to be reflexive and to acknowledge the importance of analysing their own preconceptions during the process of generating and interpreting data.
Several CRs were motivated to join the research team by their desire to address the disadvantage and suffering they observed in their communities. Several had worked on projects in the community and saw the research as a continuation of an ongoing personal investment. CR4, for example, commented that the role ‘did appeal to me because I was doing positive, helping the community, putting their voices across, taking down their experiences and how they deal with the situation’. While this commitment meant a highly motivated and hardworking team of CRs, problems arose when CRs saw their role as one of enlightening or changing community respondents. CR6, for example, spoke about a desire: ‘to educate the people [about a] normal lifestyle and improve their lifestyle.’
During analysis sessions, several of the CRs found it hard to acknowledge and question their own presumptions. Some were openly critical about community members and talked negatively about issues such as divorce, asylum, forced marriage, extra-marital affairs, community insularity, cultural change and poor standards of education, often appearing to blame individuals and families. For some, information gleaned through the research process was unwelcome and resulted in discomfort. Opinion-forming seemed difficult to resist owing, in part, to the closeness of CRs to the issues. Examples included one CR who felt unhappy about the revelation of divorce in the Pakistani community where she lived.
Women call their husbands over from Pakistan and how they spend 20 year … 30 years with them and how they [the men] go back to Pakistan and get married to another woman and divorce the first one. I think there should be some kind of law to stop that from happening. (CR4)
Importantly, also, we found that some CRs tended to essentialise their own communities and to exaggerate the differences between themselves and other ‘groups’. This was found to be a challenge during analysis sessions and was also reflected in some of the CR interviews.
Pakistani community is sometimes is … they don’t feel free to tell all their problems, but, you know, it’s to make them understand yeah … you know, it’s … Pakistani community, they always hiding the things like, you know, it’s … they don’t feel free to talk with anyone, yeah. (CR3)
On the other hand, some CRs had clearly thought about their new role and developed reflexivity during the course of the research. For instance, a female CR decided to dress in a very different way to usual in order to signal her new role to community members and, she hoped, elicit the type of engagement she expected. Others felt that they had learned a great deal about the issues facing members of their community, and this new knowledge had challenged some of their preconceptions.
CR1: I’ve learnt that my assumption that, you know, most Ghanaians are like this and that, but, you know, it has been challenged, you know, by the different
CR1: It didn’t surprise me. I hit myself and I said, “But of course. What do you expect?” you know. We’re not in a kind of a stationary culture, you know. The culture is [transient], you know. I’m … you know, we … we’re going through many changes even in Ghana and over here. What they bring here and what they take out and, you know, there are all different kind of things and it challenged my mind a bit that … I need to broaden it out and, you know … and … so for me it’s … it has made me more aware.
An empowering process?
The CRs reported many personal benefits from working on the project. For some, they felt that it had expanded their social networks and developed new skills.
I like to study, I like to learn so long as, as I said, it will improve my knowledge, skills, even my attitude. So I felt this was a good opportunity for me to, er, relate to them [other team members] and learn … and learn and get on well with them. (CR1)
There’s lots of things that I’ve learnt, lots of new skills I’ve learnt, lots of new tools I’ve learnt, lots of new communication ideas I’ve learnt; how to communicate effectively, what kind of language to use, what tone of voice to use and stuff like that. (CR4)
CRs also felt empowered by the feeling of being important to the research process. Many reported feeling ownership of the research, and themes of respect and contribution were highlighted repeatedly in the interviews when discussing the research process.
I feel that, you know, the research is dependent on us … if you like, we are crucial … we are very, very important to the research itself……..[I felt] 110 % ownership of it. (CR2)
It was different ideas yeah and they [university researchers] really respect it. (CR3)
Some also felt motivated to continue to contribute in their communities now that they had been sensitised to the issues.
It’s [even] spurring me on that, you know, as soon as I put to bed my dissertation, you know, maybe I’m going to look for something seriously, you know, to do around this area and setting up some kind of a voluntary organisation to [address it]. (CR2)
The extent to which the research could empower at the individual level was, however, limited by an inability to involve the CRs in all aspects of the project, both because of time and financial resources. In particular, outputs from the research came to fruition some months after the official end date of the project, by which time most CRs had moved.
Furthermore, for some CRs, who had seen their involvement as a way of making a difference to their community, the lack of tangible impact of the research was a source of disappointment and frustration. In some cases, interactions with local people had heightened their awareness that the impact of the research would be less than they had hoped.
Some Bengali people […] ask, “What’s the benefit of this research project?” It was a new thing. A new question for me; “What’s the benefit?” But it is difficult for us to explain it. If we explain them in our way, according to our interview system, according to our aim and object, then they are not satisfied. They think no benefit … not benefit. Sometimes they say, “No benefit.” (CR7)
I don’t think without the research there would be any [change], so it is important to have the research. Whether the research will actually lead to changes I’m afraid I’m a bit cynical on that. Hopefully it will, but as I say, without it there definitely wouldn’t be. (CR8)