Researching black parents has thrown into sharper relief the issue of the usefulness of research and that of objectivity versus subjectivity. These debates are hardly new but in research regarding participatory democracy it would be incorrect and indeed impossible to ignore them. Drawing on research with black parents, mainly mothers, and their views on their children’s schooling, this article begins to engage with the issues of data ownership and dissemination, together with the role of the white researcher and concerns of trust and risk in the research process. From the perspective of critical social research it is argued that in researching social justice issues and participation engaging the actors in a dialogic relationship with the researcher is essential, together with having some ownership over the data.
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