In years gone by, the norm for psychological research was to design studies from the outside looking in. Acting as observers of particular populations, there was generally an expected separation between the researcher and the researched.

More recently, however, there's been a shift.

For decades, the rallying cry "nothing about us without us" has been used by the disability rights movement to communicate the idea that no policy should come to pass without their full and direct participation. This important approach has made its way to psychological research, and as it gathers momentum, we're seeing more and more lived experiences and expert insights from studied populations enrich our scientific landscape.

This episode, Emma Palmer-Cooper meets James Cusak (Chief Executive, Autistica) and Dr Amy Pearson to look at the benefit of involving studied populations in research design — specifically, in autism research.

This is Episode 38 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Emma Palmer-Cooper. Audio wizardry by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Want to learn more?

See the value of consulting with studied communities in this article investigating differences between academic and community research priorities in Scotland.

Or take a look at The Psychologist's recent issue on Neurodiversity.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

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