My friend Sally has been doing research with sewists.

And we were talking about it yesterday.

I was waffling on to her about ‘Person 1st’ a new way we are doing research at Qual Street with participants. We co produce with them how, when and what we research on any given subject. I often think about Person 1st research as ‘pulling on a thread’ because what participants tell us or show us then leads to more… (It makes me think of sewing, or at least unpicking tangles…)

Anyway, Sally was telling me that in her research, she listens back to her interviews and line by line as a new topic of conversation comes up, she thinks:

what is this about?

That way she can start to see new perspectives (not just her own), and presumably start to see themes, topics as they emerge.

This feels so right for Person 1st too, as we go back through participants’ posts, notes, films, messages and interview recordings, we can ask ourselves (and them!) ‘what is this about?’ and explore the subject in hand from their point of view as much as from ours…