‘Take your partners’

This article presents an example of action research, namely a study about emotional distress in young people with learning disabilities. The study brought together a university research centre with an array of policy makers, managers and practitioners, as well as young people with learning disabilities and family members. The researcher’s role in such work has to be flexible, and the article explores the boundaries between practice and research. Through vignettes of key decision points in the project, this article considers some of the tensions inherent in partnership action research, and how they can be resolved. The important factors for success in this project were the initial and ongoing involvement of a senior manager in social services, and the confidence and flexibility of all service providers and policy makers in the area concerned. Engaging simultaneously with end users and practitioners in a research project could lead to ethical dilemmas, but this article explores how multiple and shifting roles can be beneficial in research. By keeping all the partners engaged in the research study, the work can become embedded in practice, and can lead to change.