In recent decades, adult and community education has emerged as a distinctive discipline in its own right, based on scholarship in the quest for real equality and social justice. This distinctive discipline is already characterised by ‘really useful practice’, that is, critical, creative pedagogy, heavily influenced by women’s studies and women’s community education. Further, it draws on ‘really useful knowledge’, the cocreation of knowledge for critical consciousness. I make the case that we in the field need to develop a distinctive research approach to underpin the discipline, ‘really useful research’ that is dedicated to promoting emancipation, addressing inequality and inequity, in order to counter the ways in which research has been employed in maintaining the status quo. The article argues that research is not neutral, as feminist research approaches has demonstrated so clearly. And research has been used in a reductionist and instrumental manner, to implement global agendas for private gain rather than public good. Critical adult and community educators are dedicated to real equality and social justice, and ‘really useful research’ will provide the wherewithal to works towards that end.