Engaging low-income families in education research: examining the challenges in Beijing and London

This comparative paper considers the similar challenges encountered in Beijing (China) and Greater London (England) when engaging low-income families in education research. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 parents/caregivers in Beijing and 13 parents in Greater London, we explored perceptions of the barriers to participation, the influence of identity on involvement, and ways to better enable their contribution to education research. We found that key barriers to research participation across both cohorts centred on practical issues of a lack of time and childcare support and a sense of the pointlessness of research. Despite these commonalities, subtle differences emerged in how these barriers were experienced in each context, influenced by local socio-cultural factors. We conclude by reflecting on the forms of support that would encourage and enable socio-economically disadvantaged parents/caregivers in different country contexts to take part in education research. Our findings contribute new, comparative knowledge to best practice approaches, highlighting specific policy interventions that could improve the diversity of research participation.