Community Led Research
Gypsy and Traveller Community-Led Research
Gypsy and Traveller communities are frequently researched but rarely control the questions, funding, interpretation or final report.
Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC conducts research with communities, not on them.
We combine trusted community relationships, lived experience and professional research skills to produce evidence that is credible, culturally informed and capable of creating change.
Research should not extract and disappear
Our communities have repeatedly shared difficult experiences with researchers and institutions, often without seeing what was written, what changed or who benefited.
A focus group added after the research has been designed is not co-production.
Recruiting community members to support a conclusion that has already been reached is not community leadership.
Trust is not a free resource. It has been built over generations within our communities and damaged repeatedly by institutions.
We treat it accordingly.
What community-led means to us
Community leadership begins before the first question is written.
Depending on the project, this can mean community members helping to:
- Identify the research priorities
- Shape the questions and methods
- Decide how people can participate
- Work as paid peer or community researchers
- Interpret what the evidence means
- Develop recommendations
- Present findings to decision-makers
- Decide how results are returned to communities
People should know why research is happening, how their information will be used and what influence their involvement can realistically have.
Culturally appropriate research methods
Written surveys and formal interviews do not work for everybody.
PGT uses flexible methods that recognise oral communication, trusted relationships, family structures and different levels of literacy and digital access.
Our work may include:
- One-to-one conversations
- Focus groups and listening sessions
- Community events and activities
- Oral histories and testimony
- Peer and community research
- Case-study development
- Documentary and policy analysis
- Qualitative coding and thematic analysis
We choose methods because they fit the people and the question—not because they are convenient for the commissioner.
What we can deliver
PGT can support or lead:
- Research design and development
- Community engagement strategies
- Recruitment and trusted introductions
- Interviews, focus groups and facilitated discussions
- Training and support for community researchers
- Qualitative analysis
- Research reports and policy briefings
- Recommendations and action plans
- Presentations to communities and professionals
- Consultation responses and evidence submissions
We can work independently or in partnership with universities, public services and other research organisations.
Ethical and accountable research
Before work begins, we agree how consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, data protection and withdrawal will be handled.
We also expect clarity about:
- Who controls the research
- Who owns and can use the evidence
- Whether findings will be published
- How community members will be paid or recognised
- How findings will be returned to participants
- Who is responsible for acting on the recommendations
Community members should not carry the emotional burden of sharing painful experiences while institutions receive all the funding, credit and professional benefit.
Work with PGT from the beginning
We work with health services, local authorities, universities, funders, charities and other organisations seeking credible evidence from ethnic Gypsy and Traveller communities.
Bring PGT in while the questions, methods and budget can still be shaped.
If the project has already been fully designed and you only need somebody to recruit participants or provide community approval, that is not community-led research.
If you are prepared to share control, resource involvement properly and act on what the evidence reveals, we want to hear from you.