PEERS: The Peers Examining Experiences in Research Study
Peer researchers are individuals who are hired to work on research projects because of their lived experiences with the topic being studied. In order to contribute to more meaningful inclusion of communities on topics they have experience with, it is often recommended to hire peer researchers for community-based and participatory research projects. However, little research has examined how peer researchers experience their involvement in these research projects, in order to determine whether or how they were meaningfully included.
Peers Examining Experiences in Research Study (PEERS) was a qualitative, participatory project to address this question. In partnership with people who have worked as peer researchers, we examined how peers experienced their involvement in research with four intersectional communities:
consumer/survivor/mad communities
communities of people who use drugs
trans and non-binary communities
racialized communities
We hope to use our findings to make recommendations for participatory research in general, as well as research with these four communities specifically, to maximize the meaningful inclusion of peer researchers.
Team Members
Lori Ross, Principal Investigator (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto)
Adrian Guta, Co-Investigator (School of Social Work, University of Windsor)
Florence Heung, Research Assistant, 2017-2018 (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Carole King, Research Assistant (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Kinnon MacKinnon, Co-Investigator (School of Social Work, York University)
Arlette Martinez, Research Assistant (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Elizabeth McLean, Research Assistant (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Chandrashri Pal, Research Assistant (Dalla Lana School of Public Health)
Merrick Pilling, School of Disability Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University
Kendra-Ann Pitt, Co-Investigator (School of Social Work, York University)
Yogendra Shakya, Co-Investigator (Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Carol Strike, Co-Investigator (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto)
Jijian Voronka, Co-Investigator (School of Social Work, University of Windsor)
Charmaine Williams, Co-Investigator (Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto)
Main Contact
Lori Ross (l.ross@utoronto.ca)
Funding
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grants Program
Project Outcomes
Recommendations
Papers
Ross, L. E., Pilling, M., Voronka, J., Pitt, K. A., McLean, E., King, C., & Guta, A. (2023). “I will play this tokenistic game, I just want something useful for my community”: Experiences of and resistance to harms of peer research. Critical Public Health, 33(5), 735–746. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2023.2268822
Voronka, J., & King, C. (2023). Reflections on peer research: Powers, pleasures, pains. The British Journal of Social Work, 53(3), 1692–1699. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcad010
MacKinnon, K. R., Guta, A., Voronka, J., Pilling, M., Williams, C. C., Strike, C., & Ross, L. E. (2021). The political economy of peer research: Mapping the possibilities and precarities of paying people for lived experience. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(3), 888–906. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa241
Book Chapter
Ross, L. E., Pilling, M., Pitt, K.-A., & Voronka, J. (2024). Even with the best of intentions: An accounting of failures in a participatory research project. In C. Carter, C. T. Jones, & C. Janzen (Eds.), Contemporary vulnerabilities: Reflections on social justice methodologies (pp. 168–185). University of Alberta Press. https://ualbertapress.ca/9781772127386/contemporary-vulnerabilities/
Podcast Episode
Discussing failures in participatory research, with Lori Ross. In Matters of Engagement Podcast.
Instagram Post of Project Summary