Chapter 1: Setting the Scene

Overview of Contents

• Historical issues that impact on Indigenous research
  The link between colonisation, exploitation and research

• Considering cultures, knowledge traditions and research
  Using the language and culture of Western research
  Case story – The challenge of learning research language

• A framework for good research

• Big issues for Indigenous health research
  Health inequity
  Resource: ‘Close the Gap’ campaign
  Lack of health data about Indigenous Australians

• Key messages for researchers

Excerpt from Chapter 1

Good research in Indigenous settings comes from bringing together different cultural perspectives and different ways of thinking, learning, knowing, doing and being. The way we do research is also influenced by the values and the thinking of the times in which we live, and the experiences of the past.

This chapter outlines some of these influences. It raises issues from the history of research for Indigenous peoples that impact on present day health and wellbeing, attitudes towards research and researchers, and on the way research is now planned and conducted in Indigenous research settings. It includes important messages for all researchers working to improve Indigenous health through research.

Ian Anderson, Director of Research and Innovation, The Lowitja Institute, talks about the challenge in researching Indigenous health.

It can be demonstrated through the historical analysis of research practice in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that research is neither a value-free process, nor one that is necessarily attuned to the return of benefit to those who are researched.

It is our challenge to work in a way that changes that dynamic. We need to be critically engaged in questioning the values and practices associated with research, in order for its potential to be realised in terms of practical gains for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

To read the full chapter, purchase a copy of Researching Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers.