Abstract:
In this paper, we reflect on our collective knowledge and experience of qualitative health research in Aboriginal communities, and seek to provide guidance for researchers who are new to undertaking research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The group reflections which led to this paper commenced with an intensive 2 day national workshop entitled ‘Qualitative research with Aboriginal communities: methodologies, experiences and challenges’ in November 2016. The workshop was held at The Kids Research Institute Australia in Perth, Western Australia, and hosted by the Kulunga Aboriginal Research Development Unit (KARDU) and the Centre of Research Excellence in Ear and Hearing Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children (CRE-ICHEAR). The workshop brought together experienced and emerging Aboriginal researchers to lead an exploration of how to use qualitative methods to undertake health research which improves the lives of Aboriginal people.
Our focus was on qualitative research practices that were culturally informed, trustworthy, rigorous and respectful of communities. Group discussions were themed each day and presented back to attendees for checking and further discussion. A decision was made to further develop and disseminate key messages beyond the workshop, including through establishing a group of authors to take this forward. This development process, commencing with the collaborative workshop and followed up by the development of this paper, became our ‘collaborative yarn’. As we had no representatives from Torres Strait Islander people in our group, we have approached this paper from the perspective of working with Aboriginal communities, although we draw on principles which are considered widely applicable to Indigenous peoples.
We seek to discuss ways to engage in respectful, decolonising qualitative research with Aboriginal communities. The topics are not designed as a checklist for success, rather as learnings to share with the wider research community.