Participatory Research With Care-Recipients

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the participation of elderly care recipients in the context of social science research. Utilizing the discourses and participatory debates in the context of social work, we outline an understanding of participatory research, focusing on the rights of care recipients and taking them as a starting point. On this basis, weexplore how to negotiate research questions and topics, modify traditional empirical research methods, and reflect on quality criteria and the structuring of relationships in order to be able to redeem the right to participation of care recipients. We conclude by identifying the limits of participatory research with vulnerable groups and with a plea for understanding participation as an opportunity, as it were, as a democratization of science and a democratization through science.