Ethical Tensions: Problematising the Duality of the Community-Embedded Researcher Identity in the REALITIES Project

Community-based research (CBR) is increasingly used when investigating experiences of those whose voices are historically marginalised. REALITIES (Researching Evidence-based Alternatives in Living, Imaginative, Traumatised, Integrated, Embodied Systems in health disparities) takes a CBR approach to understand and re-imagine systems of health and social care so that they might better meet the needs of those under-served groups who most need them. Focused on five place-based community ‘hubs’ across Scotland, Community-Embedded Researchers (CERs) gather data arising through everyday practices of the organisations in which they are situated. These CERs occupy a dual role of organisational worker and researcher. This paper draws on reflections of CERs focused on challenges of navigating issues of autonomy, vulnerability and power arising from this dual identity as they undertake the research. We argue that the positionality of the CER as organisational worker who then takes forward an additional researcher identity, creates complexity that is beyond such concepts as of participant-observer. CERs draw on their relational skills and values to navigate these situations, each of which is contextually situated. We conclude that alongside existing toolkits it is necessary to encourage those engaging with similar research to focus on a range of questions to surface and enable discussion of potential relational challenges. The centrality of relational skills and judgement highlights the need for researcher support through training and ongoing reflective discussion of challenges experienced.