ABSTRACT
This chapter explores participative forms of qualitative social work research. Participation and inclusion are a relatively new development in qualitative research and typically translate into participants being actively involved in a research project to varying degrees. As we have seen earlier, theoretical schools such as feminist or critical approaches (chapter six) are often highly critical of realist approaches that stress a formal distance between the ‘expert’ researcher and ‘submissive’ participant. The chapter begins by giving a critical overview of participation, including its different interpretations, applications and some of the recognised pros and cons of the approach. The chapter then looks at how qualitative participation approaches can be applied in practice. Finally, we look at some of the complex ethical issues that relate to participative research.
