ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the experiences of two sets of research projects involving members of black and minority ethnic communities in the role of researchers. To develop J. Bourne, funding black community projects may be strategy of socially controlling autonomous initiatives. The chapter outlines the theoretical background to the Social Action research method, and describes the key differences between the social contexts of the two sets of projects. It discusses the issues involved in working on research projects with communities; and seeks to identify what lessons seem to have potential for applicability across different situations. Within the broad parameters of the research design and funding there exists the potential for delegating many organizational features to the community members. The use of community members as part of a research team lends itself to potential criticism by researchers for ‘when community groups generate their own research their methods are seen as idiosyncratic and often cause concern to the more experimentally inclined practitioner’.
