ABSTRACT
There is considerable diversity amongst the contributions within this volume, but the essential characteristics which each contribution shares is that the subjects of the research described experience forms of social and or economic marginalisation. As we have discussed in our introductory chapter, antidiscriminatory/emancipatory research may be informed by a range of debates relating to the nature and conduct of social research. It is important to recognise that questions about the nature of social research have been raised not just within the arena of academic research, but also within a policy perspective. In the policy context, there have been important contributions from new social movements about ways in which research may be used to complement or advance the wider aims of pressure groups. Participatory approaches to emancipatory research recognise and are centred upon the transformative potential of the social research process. In many forms of participatory research, the transformative potential is most obviously achieved where research participants become the direct users of the research findings. Beyond this, there are also other ways in which social research may be used more directly by new social movements. One example is the way in which new social movements may use research to influence the thinking and to alter the knowledge bases of others-particularly those in powerful positions. In this chapter, I will explore the micro-politics contained in one such example of how new social movements may, by design, seek to exert influence on research users. The example I will use is based upon a sexual healthneeds assessment of gay and bisexual men in the north-west of England. I will look at ways in which a gay men’s health movement as ‘outsiders’ in the research process developed alliances with a university in order to develop a research study which would be acceptable to local policy makers.
