Final Report: Strengthening Community Research in ... - Ninti One

Physical work environment.The most significant barrier was engaging men to join the project team. Men were more likely to engage with theproject activities if they felt they could work separately from the women, on a different research topic. Thisworking style would preserve a traditional respect for the separation of elements of men’s and women’s roles.Other barriers for researchers included a common perception that the work was in an English language-basedenvironment, with requirements for written literacy and numeracy skills, and that the work itself would notproduce tangible physical outputs. In fact, the team as a whole required English language skills, but these skillswere not required of every individual. Research activity included being outdoors, walking, talking and being in thecommunity precinct. However, the development of an idea or writing and re-writing a survey instrument andanalysing or reporting findings may have seemed to be slow and unclear processes when unfamiliar to peopleconsidering applying to join the team.As the project began to reach the end of its field work, we had to turn away potential researchers interested injoining the group as there was not time to undertake induction and sufficient training while finishing datacollection, doing analysis and reporting findings.Hamilton Downs research workshop: (left to right) Edward Rontji; Rachel Kantawara and Dion Dhamarranydji; Ned Hargraves,Edward Rontji, Mark Inkamala and Anna Marie Armstrong3.4 Skill development3.4.1 Training workshopsNinti One facilitated training workshops in the research methodology, in the process of working through steps inthe cycle of research, and in the analysis and development of findings and recommendations as the researchprogressed.Participatory workshops allowed reflection and discussion about the context of community research in thisproject. Skill development workshops made space for the bigger picture questions to emerge and for the researchteam to situate their fieldwork and reporting outside themselves and the team. This allowed researchers toexpress the movements between their roles as insider researchers and their roles as community members,leaders and parents. The workshops also strengthened the practice of the team in being a questioning observer.The time to reflect and practise story-telling about the research was very important to this project and to theteams from the other community research projects.The skills-sharing workshops were consistent with Ninti One protocols for engaging and developing Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander research capacity, recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Intellectualproperty and respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge. Staged learning echoed the practice ofPAR and used a similar model of participatory action.Final Report: Strengthening Community Research in Remote Service Delivery at Ntaria 21