ABSTRACT
One of the tenets of both participatory research and co-production is that they engage actively in issues of power and representation between researcher, researched and wider social forces. Peer involvement, is another approach that it is hard to disagree with but is surprisingly under researched and contested. Justifications for using peer research seem to fall into three camps: claims about power and epistemology; claims about the richer nature of the data that peer researchers can obtain; and the emancipatory and empowering impact of using peer researchers for all stakeholders. Ultimately using peer researchers seemed most powerful symbolically. They were signifiers in terms of the perception of research participants of seriousness about their right to be involved in knowledge creation, which in turn impacted on their own view of their legitimacy. The presence of a peer should relax the participant, knowing that the interviewer understands what they are going through. This should improve the reliability and honesty of the data.
