The importance of the personal element in collaborative research

This account draws on the experience of five final-year students of human communication and one tutor from the Manchester Metropolitan University who conducted collaborative research into life stages. The research was personally developmental for all those involved and resulted in an increased sense of personal power. The authors discuss the use of their personal development as a research tool, using the models of cooperative inquiry and heuristic inquiry. Ultimately, they consider how their ‘therapeutic’ process can be termed ‘research’, and how their approach can be utilised in research that is personally and socially educational.