Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyThe fourth stage involved the co-researchers reading sections of this thesis andcommenting on choice of literature. This has been a purposeful ethical andmoral step toward sharing the power inherent in being a non-Indigenous authorof this Indigenous focused PhD thesis, and ensuring that the process ofrepresenting Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal co-researcher viewpoints is ascollaborative and equitable as possible. Where changes were suggested, wediscussed these and came to an agreement about acceptable language andphrasing.Semi structured interviews with trigger questionsSemi structured interviews were guided by trigger questions as suggested bythe Aboriginal Health Council of SA (Chong 2005b). Trigger questions weredeveloped initially through the community consultations and then revised asnew themes as these emerged through the PAR cycles. Co-researchers chosewhether they wished to be involved in interviews or focus groups, and if sowhere and when they would prefer to meet, and whether or not they would likeit audio taped or for me to take notes. On each occasion I transcribed theinterview or focus group and returned the transcript to the participant/s forcorrections, changes or additional comment, following concepts of memberchecking as described by Stringer (2007). Often discussions developed beforeand after formal meeting time and these were included in the data if the persongave permission. If literacy was a consideration, I read the transcript with theco-researcher and we made changes together. It was agreed that any changes aperson wished to make would be honoured, and that the deleted informationwould also be removed from my data base. This ensured that co-researchershad control over what information they chose to share, both immediately andon reflection. Considering the conflicts and negative experiences of researchand institutions that existed for many co-researchers (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike), this was a very important consideration.Fifteen semi-structured interviews took place, with each lasting between thirtyminutes and one and a half hours. The average was an hour. Interviews wererecognised as involving both knowledge sharing and personal capacitybuilding. Prior to an interview, many co-researchers expressed a concern thatthey had very little to contribute, only to discover that they actually had much133