A new McCaughey Centre publication is now available on our website, at http://www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/publications/searchpublications. This report, entitled Something to Take Notice of: Exploring the value and challenges of peer-interviewing as a participatory research method was authored by Dr Rosemary Mann and Dr Deb Warr of the McCaughey Centre.
‘I can’t explain but just listening and hearing their personal stories and just their life, understanding where they come from, just changed my point of view and how I feel about certain things. They opened my mind up to thinking and experiences and things I didn’t feel before.’
Anna, a local resident-interviewer for the Neighbourhood Renewal community surveys.
Anna’s story of working as a peer-interviewer where she conducted surveys with other residents in her neighbourhood is one of the many that are gathered together in a new research report recently published by the McCaughey Centre. The report explores the experiences of peer-interviewers who conducted community surveys for the Victorian Neighbourhood Renewal initiative, and discusses the benefits and challenges of peer-interviewing as a participatory research method in communities of place-based disadvantage. In particular, the report examines the empowering potential of using peer interviewing approaches, both for interviewers themselves and the communities they represent. It identifies three key benefits of collaborative and participatory approaches to research by developing personal and employment skills of interviewers, building community awareness and social networks, enhancing data validity and maximising the practical outcomes of research for communities.
You can read more about the Centre’s work in increasing social participation and inclusion at http://www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/research/current/social_inclusion.