Icarus

Icarus’ approach to research reflects our commitment to inclusive and participative processes. We work to ensure that there is active involvement of key stakeholders at the different stages of the research process and a number of our research projects have adopted cooperative inquiry principles, researching ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ people and involving participants as co-researchers. We have trained and supported user groups in data gathering, analysis and reporting – for example, parents of Sure Start Children’s Centres surveying parents views; refugees undertaking peer interviews re. housing need; people with severe and enduring mental illness reviewing the use of mental health day care and young people researching youth service provision. We have also participated in an extensive cooperative inquiry project on resilience building with Bradford University’s International Centre for Participation Studies.

Our research is also characterised by its use of innovative methods which can often help engage ‘hard to reach’ groups, including video, photography, diaries and portfolios, guided walks and we based surveys, for example.