Resources for Researchers
Researching Indigenous Health:
A Practical Guide for Researchers
Indigenous health research needs to be driven by priorities set by Indigenous people, to be of practical use to the Indigenous health sector and to develop research capacity within the Indigenous community. The Lowitja Institute and its predecessor the CRC for Aboriginal Health, have developed resources in response to a growing need for resources in this area.
Recently the Lowitja Institute has released the following Guide. Accompanying resources and case stories can be found in these pages.
Laycock, A. with Walker, D., Harrison, N. & Brands, J. 2011, Researching Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers, The Lowitja Institute, Melbourne. (Purchase the Guide)
It is a companion volume to our previous publication:
Laycock, A. with Walker, D., Harrison, N. & Brands, J. 2009, Supporting Indigenous Researchers: A Practical Guide for Supervisors, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, Darwin. (6.5MB)
Companion online resource for the Guide
Chapters - overviews of each chapter including links to case stories and resources where these are available online.
Case stories - go to the case stories that give examples of the best practices set out in the guide. Many of these case stories are included in the book in brief and can be read in full online.
Useful information and websites - links to organisations, policies and information relevant to researchers.
Who is this Guide for?
The Lowitja Institute receives frequent requests for resources and advice about how to conduct research projects, and has identified different audiences with different resource needs.
1 Emerging and experienced researchers looking for ways to improve their Indigenous health research practice. Researchers want to know how to involve participants and the users of research when developing and conducting research projects—how to build Indigenous research values and approaches into research processes to make the research stronger, and how to make sure research can lead to real benefits for people’s health and wellbeing.
2 Supervisors of emerging Indigenous researchers. Many research leaders have a lot of experience in designing and conducting research but limited experience as supervisors and trainers of emerging researchers. Non-Indigenous supervisors, in particular, want to know how to provide the right type of support to Indigenous researchers and how to build strong intercultural research partnerships for better research projects.
What is in this Guide?
Researching Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers includes the history, context, values and change priorities of Indigenous health research in Australia and the planning and management of Indigenous health research projects. The companion volume, Supporting Indigenous Researchers: A Practical Guide for Supervisors is about good practice in developing the capacity of Indigenous health researchers. Both books offer practical information, advice, strategies and success stories in Indigenous health research.
Information in this guide can be purchased as a book with summaries and additional information being available on our website. Longer case stories can be read in full online and chapters are supported with more useful online information for researchers. They are part of a web resource developed by The Lowitja Institute to support and resource researchers. The online resource offers other relevant information such as Indigenous health research policies, structures and collaborations. You can also provide feedback about the publications and contribute your own stories:
Reflections on the Guide
Developing practical guides for good research practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research: through collaboration [poster] by Alison Laycock and Diane Walker in 2011 Primary Health Care Research Conference: Program & Abstracts. Primary Health Care Research and Information Service, Australia.
Institute launches guide to good research, Wangka Pulka, August 2011, p 15.
More ethical Indigenous health research [MP3], interview with Alwin Chong and Diane Walker on Researching Indigenous Health in The Wire, 18 July 2011.
A new resource for researchers working in Indigenous health by Melissa Sweet in Croakey: the Crikey Health Blog, 15 July 2011.
Purchase the Guide
Researching Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers can be purchased from the Lowitja Institute for $25 (plus $15 postage and handling for up to 4 books). A discounted price of $15 per copy (plus $15 postage and handling) is available for those working in the Aboriginal community controlled health sector and students. A discount on postage and handling is available for order of 5 copies or more. Copies can also be picked up at our offices, but we request that you contact us first.
To purchase a copy, download and complete the order form and email to publications@lowitja.org.au or fax to +61 3 8341 5599.
Any proceeds from sales of the Guide will go into recovery of production costs.
Media
All media enquiries to Tracey Johnston, Media and Marketing Manager, on 0428 347 57 or at tracey.johnston@lowitja.org.au.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback on the Guide. Contact Diane Walker, Research Training and Development Coordinator at diane.walker@lowitja.org.au.