From Experience to Evidence: Foundations in Peer Research
Key facts
Start date: September
Credits: 20 credits (SCQF Level 7 / First Year Undergraduate)
Mode of study: On campus, face-to-face
Duration: 10 weeks (one 4-hour session per week)
Department: Social Work and Social Policy
Course lead: Dr Lisa Garnham
Assessment: Design your own community-based research project
糖心视频
- Learn how research really works, from the inside out, in a welcoming, supportive environment
- Discover a wide range of research methods, from surveys and interviews to creative and expressive approaches.
- Develop skills that are directly useful in the real world: designing a research project, gathering evidence, and sharing your findings.
- Be taught by research-active academics with experience of peer and community-led research.
- Work collaboratively with fellow learners, sharing knowledge and supporting each other throughout.
- Leave with a university credit and a concrete research project outline you’ve designed yourself.
Why this course?
From Experience to Evidence is a practical, friendly and exciting introduction to peer research – research carried out by people with direct, lived experience of the issues they’re investigating. It’s about building on your knowledge and the experiences of people in your community to generate something powerful: real research evidence that can inform policy, change services, and make a difference to communities.
You don’t need to have studied at university before. You don’t need to be a scientist or a statistician. What you do need is curiosity, a willingness to learn, and something you care about. This course will give you the tools, skills and confidence to design your very own research project that focuses on an issue or topic important to you.
Whether you’re working or volunteering in the third sector or simply want to understand how community-led research works and how to use it, this course will support you on your journey. You’ll leave with a solid foundation in designing and delivering community-led research.
What you'll study
Over 10 weekly sessions, you’ll build your knowledge and skills step by step. Each week combines short lectures, group discussion, hands-on activities, and dedicated time to work on your own research project idea. Sessions run once a week for ten weeks, and there’s plenty of time for questions before and after.
The course covers:
The purpose of research, the stages of a project, the different people involved, and what makes research ethical. You’ll also start thinking about what you already know as a researcher.
How to turn a topic you care about into clear research questions, and how to choose the right approach for your project.
What surveys are, how to design them, and where to find existing data. What these tools are good at – and what they can’t tell you. How to analyse numerical data and present it clearly using charts, tables and infographics.
How to design and run interviews and focus groups, what kinds of questions to ask, and how to do this ethically. How to analyse what people say: coding, spotting themes, and using quotes to tell a story.
Photography, artwork, storytelling and other creative approaches to gathering evidence. How to analyse and interpret creative research outputs ethically and meaningfully.
Who your research is for, how to present findings, and how to make sure your work has real impact.
Learning & teaching
Every session is designed to be accessible and engaging, especially if it’s been a while since you were in a classroom. Lectures are broken into short 20-minute segments with activities and discussion in between, designed to get you testing new ideas and drawing on our support.
Each week you’ll have:
- interactive lectures with discussion and group activities
- a tutorial where you work on your research project with support from tutors
- time to collaborate with other learners and share ideas
- open-access reading and resources to explore in your own time
Lecture slides and materials will be available online (via MyPlace) before and after each session, so you can revisit them at your own pace. There’s also time at the start and end of each session for informal questions.
The course is team-taught by research-active academics who have worked on peer and community-led research themselves. But you’ll have a single point of contact, Dr Lisa Garnham, who will be present every week to support you along the way.
Assessment
There are no exams in this course. Your assessment is a research project outline – a plan for a peer research project on a topic of your choosing. You’ll develop this week by week throughout the course, with support from your tutors, so by the end you’ll have built something you can use at the end of the course.
You choose how to submit it:
- a written plan (up to 2,000 words)
- a pre-recorded video presentation (up to 20 minutes)
- a live in-person presentation (up to 20 minutes)
Afterwards, you’ll receive detailed written feedback, which you can use to further develop your plans. If you need to resubmit to complete the course, you’ll get clear guidance on what to revise.
Entry requirements
This course is designed to be open and accessible. You do not need any formal qualifications to apply. What matters most is your lived or professional experience of the issues you want to research, and your motivation to learn.
This course is particularly suited to people who are:
- working or volunteering in the third sector, community organisations or public services.
- involved in participatory or community-led research projects.
- looking to build research skills to strengthen their practice or advocacy work.
- interested in gaining university-level credit for the first time.
If you’re unsure whether this course is right for you, please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
Fees & funding
This is a standalone 20-credit module, not part of a full degree programme. Fees depend on your sponsoring organisation and range from £450 to £1800.
Please contact us to ask which fee option applies to you.
What could this lead to?
Completing this course is a fantastic first step. With 20 university credits at SCQF Level 7, you’ll have demonstrated real academic achievement, and you’ll have the skills and confidence to show for it.
This course could open doors to:
- further university study, building towards an HNC, HND or full undergraduate degree.
- research roles within third sector organisations, charities or public bodies.
- stronger evidence-based practice in your current work or volunteering.
- contributing to community-led campaigns and policy change with real evidence behind you.
- involvement in participatory research projects as a peer researcher or co-investigator.
Apply
Start date: September 2026
Contact Dr Lisa Garnham (lisa.garnham@strath.ac.uk) to express interest.