Doing research inclusively: bridges to multiple possibilities in inclusive research

Abstract

Accessible summary: This article is about the ways people do research together. We talked with people doing inclusive research about their views and experiences. We found out about different ways people work together and how power is important. People talked about how inclusive research can change people's lives. We discuss why we think research can be performed inclusively in a variety of ways and why keeping this variety is important. Summary: This article reports on a study of how people do research that matters to people with learning disabilities and that involves them and their views and experiences. The study was an attempt to bring together people doing inclusive research so that, collectively, we could take stock of our practices. This would add to the individual reports and reflections on approaches that are already available. In particular, we wanted to explore what quality means in inclusive research and how we might best achieve this. We used focus groups to share and generate knowledge, and we recorded, transcribed and analysed the dialogue, looking for themes and answers to core questions. We found that there are many different ways of doing research inclusively, and we propose a model to describe this. Reflecting on the findings, we argue that it is important to keep a flexible vision of inclusive research and to keep learning and talking together.