Social Research Collective

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“We’re used to people talking about us – but it’s rare that people talk to us. As a result, the systems that are meant to help us often make things worse. It’s time our expertise was heard and taken seriously. This project is one of the things that we’re doing to push back”.

A Different Take London panel

Everyone seems to have an opinion on what causes poverty and deprivation and what should be done about it – in particular, we hear a lot from politicians, the media, and academics. But it’s rare that people who are living in poverty get to have a say and shape the discussion. That’s a problem, because for solutions to work, they need to make sense to the people who they are designed to help, who know the issues and challenges inside out.

Our approach

We developed platforms for experts by experience – children, young people and parents in poverty and living in deprived areas – to share their expertise with policy makers, practitioners and academics. We did this by bringing together panels of children, young people, parents, policy makers, practitioners and academics. Sometimes we all discussed issues together, and sometimes we split up into groups of people with similar – or different – roles and experiences to get into more depth about issues we felt strongly about. These panels provided a space to identify and discuss key issues; conduct new research; and co-design solutions.

Because poverty is such a stigmatised topic, and we were bringing together people from different generations and with different roles to discuss it, we carefully designed session plans to create a safe, supportive environment. This involved having carefully planned sessions, but also being responsive to the changing needs and skills of the groups. In earlier sessions, activities were designed to allow for participants to build up trust in sharing – or choosing not to share – their views and experiences. We then worked with the groups to identify skills they needed, and provided training in those skills (including conducting peer research, analysing data, communicating about research, and finding information on social statistics about their local areas).

Throughout the process, we had regular discussions to reflect on our roles as facilitators, how any conflict or power imbalances were handled, and any ethical challenges. For this project, issues of anonymity and confidentiality were particularly interesting – and that is something we plan to write more about soon! We have already written an article on the benefits and challenges of intergenerational participatory research, which you can find at the bottom of this page.

“We met a number of times to discuss our thoughts about what poverty is, how it affects us, and what we’d like to see done to improve the lives of children and families living on a low income. We’ve also been trained in peer research and talked to other people in our community, so that we know which issues are the most important to people in our area”.

A Different Take Leeds panel

Two panels met regularly in Leeds and London over nine months. Everyone joined in with all the panel activities, so we were able to challenge assumptions based on different perspectives, and build on each others’ knowledge. Our meetings included facilitated discussions and training in doing peer research, so that there was always new perspectives, evidence and data to discuss in our meetings. Over the course of the project, we moved towards all participants taking part in designing sessions, deciding on the topics of discussion and managing the process of working together.

“During our panel meetings we have spoken about various aspects of our lives that are impacted when living on a low income. We are used to people talking about these challenges—but the people talking don’t usually understand our lives. It is rare that we are asked to share our views on what it is really like and to offer up our ideas for real solutions”.

A Different Take London panel

Towards the end of the project we developed resources and got training in communication and media, so that everyone who wanted to felt confident about sharing the project findings and working with other people to make changes in their communities.

Some important things we learnt

“Poverty takes away a part of who we are. Too often, we are seen as ‘different’ to other people – and this makes us feel excluded and stigmatised. We want to be and do the same things as everyone else. But because we don’t have the money and resources we need, it’s a constant struggle.”

A Different Take Leeds panel

A really important piece of learning from this project was that poverty is often felt most strongly in interactions – between people in different roles or positions, and between people and organisations. It’s absolutely vital that more is done to make sure that people in poverty have the money and things they need, but as a society we also need to work on making our interactions – from day-to-day conversations to the design of complex systems like the social security system – inclusive and anti-oppressive. We identified lots of places where interactions made poverty worse – for example, the Leeds group highlighted how stigmatising it was so see the area they lived in described in really negative terms, in policy documents and the media. But we also found some ways of relating that can be really helpful – like the participatory process which brought our panels together, and the ways that grassroots groups can operate to make everyone feel included and valued.

“Low income is a big part of the problem we face, but as one of our panel members said, there is more to living in poverty which is “a life of struggle”. Poverty impacts how we feel, where we live, and what we can do. It’s easy to feel trapped when you’re struggling every day – but the good news is that we have lots of ideas about how to change things for the better!”

A Different Take Leeds panel

Towards the end of the project, some members of the Leeds and London groups met up to discuss their experiences. We realised that the overall experiences and feelings around being in poverty were similar – there was a shared feeling of shame and stigma around living in poverty, and of this being reduced through having experiential expertise recognised and acted upon. But there were also important differences in terms of what would work to address poverty based on the specific areas and communities the groups were based in. As a result, a principle that the Social Research Collective is taking forwards is the importance of focusing on processes which can be used in different contexts, as well as solutions which might be specific to the context they’re designed in. Several organisations have been in touch about replicating the process we developed in A Different Take in other places and countries – so we hope that this work will continue to grow!

“I love this project because it was where so much of the thinking behind the Social Research Collective started. At the time I was working in academia, and there was constant pressure to scale things up, get bigger projects, bring in more income, and be recognised as ‘the’ expert. This participatory, tiny (in budget terms) project was able to create a huge amount of positive change in communities, policies and practices. It also helped us and our partners to build a focus on developing sustainable, responsive processes into our work alongside looking at the outcomes of specific projects”.

Gill Main, Founder, Social Research Collective

Find out more

There’s so much more to find out about the project – and we’re keen to share the resources we produced, and the methodologies we developed.

Both groups developed reports and videos based on their work. The Child Poverty Action Group hosts the London group’s video and report, and you can find both here. You can find the Leeds group’s report here, and watch their video below.

The Leeds group used the metaphor of Snakes and Ladders – a board game in which landing on a ladder helps you to progress, while landing on a snake sets you back – to express their perspectives. Three board games were developed, respectively focusing on children, young people, and parents. Panel members led discussions based around playing these games with decision makers at policy and practice events, and found that they were powerful in generating empathy and a commitment to change. Please do make use of these if you think they might be help your work!

Rules for play:

• Use something you have on you as your playing piece – this can spark conversation about the things we’re expected to have on us in different situations, and how not having access to these things might shape someone’s experiences and interactions.
• Take turns to roll the dice and move your piece the number of spaces it grants you.
• If you land on a snake, a ladder, or a square with text on, move your piece accordingly but first read out the text – reflect on what it’s like speaking those words and, for other players, on hearing them. Think about how the experiences described might shape how you feel and your interactions with others.
• Notice if you get stuck in loops – what’s causing the loop? What impact might it have to face similar (or different) set-backs over and over again, and how might that experience differ for people who have financial security compared to those who don’t?
• The point of the games is to put poverty ‘on the table’, rather than ‘in’ any individual – so share experiences if you want to, but you don’t have to do or say anything that doesn’t feel safe and comfortable.
• Have fun! The games are not about making anyone feel bad, but hopefully they will help you to reflect on the experience of poverty, and consider different ways of being and working which might be part of the solution.

We wrote an article for an academic publication based on this work, which focused on our reflections on conducting participatory research with multiple generations. It’s free to access, and you can read it here.