Article Peer researchers in post-professional healthcare: A glimpse at motivations and partial objectivity as opportunities for action researchers Andrew D Eaton , A Ka Tat Tsang and Shelley L Craig University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Galo F Ginocchio AIDS Committee of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Abstract Peer researchers are members of a population under study who have a decision-making role or staff position on a research team. Peer researchers are increasingly required for funding proposals to succeed in Canadian HIV/AIDS research, and are strongly recom- mended for community-based participatory research in other fields. There is a need to better understand peer researchers’ motivations and their impact, both positive and negative, on studies they take part in. The emerging theory of post-professionalism informed a bounded system case study approach, whereby four peer researchers from an HIV, social work, and brain health study were conveniently sampled, then inter- viewed concerning their experiences and insider-outsider positioning. Personal interest and community leadership were key motivations behind their involvement; language barriers and managing multiple roles were key challenges. Participants identified a risk inherent in the performative interval, considering whether their contributions were a projection of self rather than a representation of participant contributions. Corresponding author: Andrew D Eaton, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor St. W, Room 710, Toronto, ON M5S1V4, Canada. Email: andrew.eaton@utoronto.ca Action Research 0(0) 1–19 ! The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1476750318811913 journals.sagepub.com/home/arj