In commissioned research, the aim of researchers is to generate work that influences the policy development process and is useful to policy-makers. The choice of research approach for projects commissioned by policy-makers has important implications for both these areas. This paper is a reflexive account of the authors' experiences in running a commissioned research project and explores how the decision to adopt a participatory approach to commissioned research can impact on the relationship between researchers, participants and policy-makers and how, in turn, this may affect the project's potential impact on policy creation and development.