The Role of Participatory Action Research in Aboriginal Education
Abstract
In the past researchers have been carrying out such political acts in the firm belief that if we study something long enough, with sufficient disciplines and controls, then we will find “reality” and “truth”, then we will carry out studies which have scientific merit, which will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about how societies work. But research is generally carried out by fairly powerful people on those less powerful. In the process the powerless frequently become even more powerless because, as Guba and Lincoln (1989:125) argue:
Science, by asking only certain questions maintains (or reinforces) the status quo; it asks those questions that have been formulated by its own theories, and never takes account of the emic [outsider] formulations of its "subjects". We would argue that conventional science is as a result a force for disenfranchisement and disempowerment, for maintaining the status quo.
References
Boruch , 1984
Crowley V and Cruse S 1992 Discussion Paper on Ethics in Aboriginal Research. Kaurna Publications, University of South Australia.
Eckermann A-K , 1980 Aboriginal Children's Needs. In Brown (ed.) Children Australia. George Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
Eckermann A-K 1992Aboriginal Children and Schools: Success or Failure? Keynote Address, C.E.O. Principal's Conference, Toowoomba.
Eckermann A-K 1994 One Classroom, Many Cultures. Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
Eckermann A-K. and Dowd L.T. 1990Community participation: Hospitals Without Walls. Proceedings of the International Conference: Health For All By the Year 2000: Nurses and others. June 28-29. School of Health Science, UCCQ, Rockhampton.
Eckermann A-K., Dowd L.T., Martin M., Nixon L., Gray R. and Chong E. 1992 Binang Gonnj: Bridging cultures in Aboriginal Health, UNE, Armidale.
Guba E.G. and Lincoln . 1985 Fourth Generation Education. Sage, London.
Heron J. 1981 Philosophical basis for a new paradigm. In Reason P. and Rowan J. (ed). Human Inquiry. John Wiley and Sons, Brisbane, pp. 19- 35.
Kelly A. 1985Action Research: What is it and what can it do? In Burgess R.E. (ed.). Issues in Educational Research: Qualitative Methods. The Falmer Press, London, pp. 129- 151.
Lincoln Y.S. and Guba E.G. 1985 Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage, London.
Malin M. 1990 Why Is Life So Hard for Aboriginal Students in Urban Classrooms? The Aboriginal Child at School, 18, 1,pp 9- 29.
Miller J. 1985 Report of the Committee of Review of Aboriginal Employment and Training Programs. AGPS, Canberra.
National Health and Research Council. 1991 Guidelines On Ethical matters in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. NH & MRC, Canberra.
Patton M.Q. 1986 Utilisation - Focuses Evaluation, end Ed., Sage, London.
Patton M.Q. 1990 Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Sage, London.
Ramsden I. 1990 Whakaruruhau: Cultural Safety in Nursing Education in Aotearoa. a report for the Maori Health and Nursing Ministry of Education, New Zealand.
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. 1991 National Report. AGPS, Canberra.
Ryan W. 1976 Blaming The Victim. Vintage Books, New York.
Sussman G.I. 1983Action Research: A Sociotechnical systems perspective: In Morgan G. (ed.). Beyond Method: Strategies for Social Research. Sage, London, pp. 95- 113.
Watts B.H. and Henry M. 1978 Focus on Parent and Child: Extending the Teaching Components of Urban Aboriginal Mothers. AGPS, Canberra.
