In this chapter, research with care is orientated as a praxis that involves people with various perspectives and knowledges. This chapter is about getting started on a research project, how to reach a decision about what to research, who may be involved in shaping that decision, and what influence this has on the design of a research project. As discussed in Chapter 1, people who get involved in research have a connection to the topic and a story about why that topic or issue is important to them. Those connections and stories change over time and exposure to being involved in research, and being involved in research can be a conduit for an evolving understanding of ourselves. Research interactions and relationships are dynamic and learning together is both a time of personal growth and possible exposure of vulnerabilities. To research together requires relational care and the space to get to know each other, time to build trust, space to talk and explore different ideas and make all sorts of connections, sometimes entirely unrelated to the topic. Attentiveness to the reasons that people are interested in the research gives a starting point to work from to understand what is important. Starting at the point of asking what do you care about or what matters to you about this topic? provides the space for that discussion. Asking people to talk about what they care about creates an open space for meaningful exchanges, a time for people to know what others are concerned about and how that relates to them personally and to gauge similarities and differences. What people would like to see as desired change in the world enables an understanding of priorities for action, however achievable they may be through research. In the conversations with researchers we spoke to for this book, we reflected on the origins of research projects and how they started. In this chapter we draw on the conversations we had with the people we spoke to – Bea, Bunty, Ceri, Ruth, Umut and Viv – about experiences of research partnerships and how this can be achieved with care.

On research praxis

Research is praxis; a processual embodied cycle of judgement, action and reflection that constitutes experience and develops wisdom.