Dealing with Quality in Indigenous Qualitative Research

09:30 -10:45 (Johannesburg timetable)

There are people groups whose realities and experiences must be heard and shared. Among these are the indigenous peoples of Asia, Africa, and other continents. One way to bring their voices to the fore is through qualitative research. Researchers, however, are confronted with questions such as how to ensure that their work is credible and that their findings have captured the reality of their participants and what the phenomenon is like in a particular context. This presentation highlights that researchers should be attuned to the philosophical frameworks, specifically the ontological, epistemological, and axiological views, of the region. Researchers may benefit to have a good understanding of the philosophical concept of indigenous peoples of holism and interconnectedness, respect for tradition and authority, collective self, spirituality, harmony and conflict avoidance, and relational epistemology. In addition, they adopt strategies that ensure the quality of their research work. Among the strategies that are relevant and applicable in distinct ways to indigenous qualitative research are adopting well-established research methods, equipping researchers, doing triangulation, ensuring the honesty of the participants, doing member checking, and dealing with issues in transcription and translation.

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Arceli Rosario, PhD, is the president of the Adventist University of the Philippines. She served as a high school principal, vice president for academic affairs, and college president. She has taught courses and conducted training in research, educational administration, and language teaching; published studies in leadership and teaching; and is a co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in the Asian Context. She was one of the founders of the Asian Qualitative Research Association and is the incumbent president of the Adventist Human-Subject Research Association in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division.