Coproduction? Working with Existing Older People's Groups
edited by Josie Tetley, Jacqueline H. Watts and Jill Reynolds

The papers in this volume illustrate how working with older people's organisations can enhance the capacity of older people in different ways. Each of the projects featured demonstrate how working with existing organisations and older people to develop and undertake social research is a complex process that requires sensitivity, flexibility and clarity of purpose on the part of the 'professional' researcher or research team.

The papers all highlight the different ways in which organisations can provide researchers with easy, but potentially selective, access to large numbers of older people. The rewards of working with enthusiastic and engaged older people as volunteer researchers, keen to learn new skills and extend their knowledge, are many and varied. There are also a number of challenges, especially in regard to ethical conduct, in ensuring the non-exploitative participation of older people as volunteer researchers.

The context of each study is different and the tasks undertaken by the participants are diverse. Older people contribute variously to project design, data collection and the dissemination of findings. A theme throughout all the accounts is the sense of commitment of the older people to this work.

No 11 The Representation of Older People in Ageing Research Series

A joint series from the Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies at the Open University and the Centre for Policy on Ageing