ABSTRACT
This paper critically examines the concept of emancipatory research by comparing it to ethnographic writing on reflexivity1 and cultural exchange (Campbell, 1995). It draws ideas from a form of post-structural ethnography (Denzin, 1997), which is concerned with issues of authority and empowerment. The call within disability studies for researchers to change the power relationships of the research process is examined within the context of the role researchers adopt when collecting data ‘in the field’, and their responsibilities in respect of how they write up and disseminate their findings.2 This examination is followed by a critical review of a variety of strategies which might help researchers to stimulate or contribute to processes of change which may enable respondents to improve their life conditions. It is concluded that their are number of different yet complementary research strategies and roles that enable the researcher to support disabled people in their fight against oppression.
