‘Doing research’ with gypsy-travellers in England: reflections on experience and practice

In order to bring the lives of Gypsy–Travellers in line with the sustainable communities’ agenda, there is now a duty for local planning authorities in England to assess the accommodation and related needs of Gypsy–Travellers. As such, there has been an increase in research, which aims to ‘find out’ more about these communities. This article explores some of the issues that researchers should consider when carrying out research with Gypsy– Travellers. It focuses specifically on issues around identifying and engaging with members of the Gypsy and Traveller communities, offering some strategies and solutions based on the experiences of the authors and other researchers