Essay Sample on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ethics Research

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are two indigenous communities whose ability to enlighten and inform policy, decision-making, and direction is curtailed by a lack of understanding of what goes around them to serve their needs best. Unreliable data from the communities lead to little progression due to the uncertainty of where to begin with, the programs aimed for the communities. Unfortunately, unreliable data leads to the implementation of unproductive policies and programs due to the inability to evaluate their effects and efficiency among the people. Data collection and reliability is done in a manner that leads to dissatisfaction since the information is based on how people from outside the community view the community, but not the individual’s and communities’ authenticities. As a result, a new approach for research can be adopted to serve the needs of the communities and benefit the people in different ways that consider indigenous ontology, epistemologies, and knowledge systems. The researchers should adopt the Cultural Framework of Indigenous Statistics to ensure that the data from their research reflects the community’s reality, as Walter and Anderson (2013) explain. The National statistic office’s concepts are difficult to explain any question that requires meaningful data on different characteristics of these communities and to understand what gives their lives sense and value. As a result, a wide gap in research is created.

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The people from these communities have experienced an inability to participate in research because they are either not engaged or trust the researchers because they have not experienced any positive effects from the previous research (Yu, 2012). The concerns include how research questions are developed, data collection methods, examination plus an explanation of the data, as well as reporting. Indigenous data is considered sovereign to protect the historical legacies by maintaining the indigenous polities. As a result, the communities should be allowed to control their data since it is their intellectual property (UN, 2007). The essay aims at exploring the assertion that research can deal with Aboriginal plus Torres Strait Islander people’s needs and benefit them in a manner that respects indigenous ontology, epistemologies, and knowledge systems.

Research in Serving the Needs of the Indigenous Communities

Consultation with the Indigenous People

Community consultation is important in the establishment of footprints to address the needs of the communities. A study conducted by Robyn (2006) shows that community involvement makes people accept and own up research. Therefore, extensive consultation with the people is critical in developing essential research to address the needs of the community effectively. Holding meetings to involve all community members ensures that the study reflects the interests of the two communities and their service providers. The indigenous people feel that the research will genuinely address their needs and those of their families.

The question of where and who to consult is important before consultation meetings commence. The researchers should ensure that many communities, if possible, all are considered to ensure there is equality. The location and the size of the population should be considered to act as a representative of the whole community. However, the ones who will be excluded will be informed of the selection criteria to ensure that there are no feelings of being let out of the study. Since indigenous people are skeptical about research, the use of networks in these communities is important to ensure that their own people convince them to participate in a given study. When there is a strong network, many people attend consultation meetings. Formal invitation letters are sent out prior to the date of the meetings, and follow-up calls to remind them of the meeting is done to make them get in touch with consultation meetings (Robyn, 2006).

Working with the Indigenous People

When researchers approach the community through their elders, they become part of the research by participating in the advisory board. Only then will the people genuinely provide accurate information that they may own it up (Higgins & Butler, 2007). Past researches have failed to address the community needs because they failed to involve the community in the study and service delivery. Implementation of services to address the needs of indigenous communities in Australia is effective when the communities participate in planning as well as the implementation of the processes. Through the involvement of the elders, members, and service providers, consultative meetings distinguish the most urgent needs the methods of addressing the needs based on the characteristics of the communities. Working with the communities during research can be achieved through the following;

First, the research must involve the community members in the forecast and accomplishment processes. Second, the research must empower the communities to identify the most urgent needs according to them. Then, the community should identify their needs in order of importance. Third, existing networks guide the people on supporting the researchers by expressing the importance of the study to the community members. In past research, studies are followed by minimal follow-ups, making people give up on researchers. As a result, any researcher should ensure that they build trust among the indigenous people by doing the talking (Higgins, 2004).

Conducting a Culturally Competent Research

Cultural heritage is the most expensive commodity among the indigenous people in Australia. These communities have maintained their cultures in a distinct way from mainstream cultures. Cultural difference is a disadvantage to research conducted without getting in touch with the culture; the main reason why they are always ineffective. As a result, a researcher must adapt to the modern indigenous cultural perspective to have an opportunity to address the needs of the communities in the long term. For cultural competency, the researchers must involve the indigenous cultural knowledge in shaping the structure of the research, practices, and approaches to be used, and the selection and involvement of the community members in the research (Flaxman et al., 2009).

The cultural competence of a study can be achieved through the following; first, the researcher must establish an effective and culturally-based structure. Flexibility and creativity are imperative in responding to the evolving needs of the people (Flaxman et al., 2009). As a result, it is imperative to understand how the community may desire their needs to be addressed and where it should take place. This can only be achieved by linking the members in establishing the service provision composition. Every program during the study must be conducted in informal and non-threatening settings to ensure that every member is comfortable making his or her contribution to the research. Second, practices and plans for the research should be culturally competent (Flaxman et al., 2009). The research should use the first language of the indigenous people, and if the researchers cannot understand or use it, a translator should be used. Indigenous elders are used to helping the researchers put into account the people’s views and experiences about the world. Further understanding can be derived from the communities’ cultural artifacts and daily activities such as artwork and traditional tools. Consultation and involvement of families and the community create a trusting bond that enables the researcher to analyze the community’s needs in an in-depth way.

Focus on Attracting and Employing Research Aids from the Community

Research aids should come from the community. A researcher should recruit community members during the consultation meetings to undergo basic training on the research and how to conduct data collection. Aids with cultural competence understand every root of the community and are better placed to convince the community to participate in the research. A strong team composed of indigenous people will establish strong relationships with the participants to create a deep comprehension of the cultural issues and needs of the people while respecting their local protocols. Again, such aids may be in a position to act as translators since they can effectively communicate in the local language without changing the original meaning of the message. In the end, the research will be well-informed, with primary data, and community representation. The community will, thus, own up the information gathered and adopt the changes to be implemented without question.

Proceeding with the Research

Indigenous researchers should approach the research from indigenous perspectives to enhance healing, mobilization, transformation, as well as decolonization of the community through their support (Smith, 1999). The agenda should consider survival, recovery, plus the development of the people to suit the evolution of the communities. Smith (1999) explains that such an approach is multi-dimensional and ambitious to have tangible results among the indigenous people. Such research needs considerable commitment among the people and the researchers, and it is the researcher’s responsibility to instill self-determination among the people. When a researcher’s study aims at preserving, maintaining, and restoring indigenous traditions, the community will embrace the research. The community needs to revitalize and regain their need for inclusion in research aimed at studying their language, culture, and way of life to improve their psychological, spiritual, economic, social, as well as governing systems (Smith, 1999). The climax is the preservation of their sovereignty and indigenous nationhood.

Agreement on the Community Benefiting from the Research

Once the communities agree to partner with the researchers in research, the researcher must clearly define how the research will benefit the people. Researching in indigenous communities must contribute to the community’s well-being and promote social justice while promoting their culture. The information and knowledge uncovered from the communities should be protected to create value for the community. That way, the community will have a sense of value and become vulnerable to be studied and understood to accommodate the solutions to their problems (Marshall, 1994).

Benefits of Research to Indigenous Communities

Establishment of Statistical Capacity Building

According to Larsen et al. (2010), longitudinal studies improve the wellbeing of the indigenous communities while contributing to epistemologies and knowledge systems in the world. When constructs that are beneficial to the communities are established, and the communities are made to understand and embrace them, their wellbeing is enhanced since they participate willingly (Lovett et al., 2015). Research enhances the development of programs that are statistical-based. When researchers recruit research aids from the community, they empower them to gain knowledge on how to conduct statistical research. Since the two communities are large, a pool of participants will receive a short study on research methodologies. The aim would, therefore, be to provide skills that will enable the Aboriginals and the Torres to collect, prepare, as well as analyze community information on their own to provide meaningful solutions to the problems facing their communities. As a result, the communities will not wait for external researchers to come to conduct an analysis of their problems.