A new research approach, related to action research and new paradigm research, has been emerging in recent years. This is (service) user-controlled research. It challenges positivist values of "neutrality", "distance" and "objectivity" in research and explicitly values subjectivity and experiential knowledge. The author examines how his personal approach to research, culminating in his involvement in the development of user-controlled research, was influenced by the novel "All Quiet on the Western Front", which emphasised the importance of first-hand accounts and interpretations in challenging militaristic understandings of war and peace.