Research proposal refers to documents that provide an overview of an investigation that is intended to be conducted in the field of academia or science, and typically constitutes requests for research sponsorship. The research proposal to be analysed in this essay focuses on the mental health outcome of indigenous Australians, and also compares them with non-indigenous residents of the nation. There is mounting evidence for the fact that there exist several challenges, in relation to prevention of relapse of mental illness among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders (Sarnyai, Berger & Jawan, 2016). The government has also recognised the need of addressing this issue on a wider context, with the aim of uplifting the social and emotional wellbeing of the people. The researchers also based their proposal on findings from the National Survey that contained information on the high prevalence of poor wellbeing and mental illness among indigenous people who are aged between 18-64 years (ABS, 2016). Hence, it can be suggested that the researchers based their proposed investigation on a phenomenon, which was of considerable importance to the current context.
The researchers aimed to explore the extent by which depression and associated wellbeing was being perceived by the community members and healthcare professionals, across two remote communities. This was a well-defined research question since an estimated 55% indigenous people were found to reside in very remote and remote regions, who spoke indigenous Australian languages (AIHW, 2017). In addition, substantial decline has also been observed in the rates of numeracy and literacy across remote regions, and regional disparities exist between the residents, when compared to their urban counterparts (Johnson et al., 2014). In addition, Hinton, Kavanagh, Barclay, Chenhall and Nagel (2015) had stated that individuals living in rural regions face several stressors related to educational attainment, transport and access to healthcare facilities that results in deterioration of their health outcomes, thus worsening the overall wellbeing and quality of life. The researchers stated that their major three objectives were namely, (i) exploring the stressors and strengths of indigenous communities, (ii) assessing the understanding of the concept of wellbeing by health professionals and community members, and (iii) identifying better work opportunities, in relation to community members having poor emotional wellbeing.
The researchers aimed to conduct a qualitative research that would help in determining stressors experienced by the indigenous people, in addition to their wellbeing. The research approach is typically exploratory in nature and helps in gaining a sound understanding of the opinions, motivations, and reasons of individuals. Although conducting a qualitative study can be suggested a correct approach since it will help the researchers delve deeper into the feelings and behaviour of indigenous people across two remote communities, and will also provide an explanation their responses, there are several drawbacks of this method. Collection of qualitative information is generally more time consuming, when compared to quantitative data collection and thus requires allocation of necessary staff, time and resources for the study. Taking into consideration the fact that relatively less number of indigenous people will be assessed, it will become difficult for the researchers to generalise the results, to a wider population (Silverman, 2016). In addition, the quality of the collected information will be highly subjective. Hence, the personal nature of the information might act in the form of a negative component of the research procedure. It is a well-known fact that the human mind generally tries to remember things in a manner that it wants to remember. Therefore, individual perspectives will form the basis of this research and will make it problematic for the researchers to determine data rigidity (Corbin, Strauss & Strauss, 2014). The researchers stated that they would adopt the process of snowballing and purposive sampling for recruitment of healthcare professionals and community members, across the population.
According to Etikan, Musa and Alkassim (2016) this type of sampling involves a non-probability process where research participants are primarily selected based on the population characteristics, and the research objectives. One major advantage of selecting this sampling procedure is that it will assist the researchers in reaching the target quickly. Taking into consideration that the sampling type contains seven different categories, it will also allow selection of homogenous population sample. However, one noteworthy weakness of the process is the fact that purposive sampling fails to account for proportionality as the major concern (Robinson, 2014). Owing to the fact that it is highly dependent on the researcher, there lies a possibility of unconscious or conscious bias entering the data that is collected, thus reducing validity of the information. Furthermore, since researchers will have to use their decision in choosing the target population for purposive sampling, it will be problematic to support the conclusions drawn from the collected data.
The other method of participant recruitment, snowball sampling involves recruitment of future research subjects by existing subjects, from their friends and acquaintances. This will help the study sample to grow in the form of a rolling snowball (Emerson, 2015). Although the process is simple and cost-efficient, the researchers would not have much control over the sampling procedure (Johnson, 2014). In addition, the process does not guarantee representativeness of the target population. There also lies the possibility of sampling bias while following this procedure since the participants recruited initially will demonstrate a likelihood of nominating subjects who are well-known.
The researchers have stated that participants might belong to any cultural background. This is not in alignment with the research aim and objectives since the investigation was based on the health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. According to Paradies (2016) racism is a major issue that results in disparities, in relation to access to proper treatment services, for major illnesses. Therefore, the researchers should focus on recruitment of indigenous participants for showing congruence to their aim. It has been found that prejudice and stigma linked with mental disorders persists across the indigenous culture and leads to a worsening of their wellbeing and quality of life (Gee, Dudgeon, Schultz, Hart & Kelly, 2014). This eventually results in reluctance among indigenous people to gain access to adequate healthcare amenities. This calls for the need of recruiting study subjects who are Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, in order to determine their perception of depression, a mental disorder and associated wellbeing, in remote communities. The researchers stated that all participants will also be provided with a consent form that will ask questions on previous diagnosis of a mental illness. This is in accordance to the concept of informed consent that is primarily taken to seek voluntary agreement of participants for enrolling them in an investigation, after gaining an insight into the research aim, advantages, and possible limitations (Bok, 2017). However, besides determining previous diagnosis, the eligibility criteria must also encompass certain aspects namely, (i) indigenous people and (ii) residence in remote location for at least three years.
The researchers stated that they would conduct semi-structured interview and thematic analysis for seeking answers to the aforementioned research objectives. Semi-structured interviews encompass organisation of meetings where no formalist set of questions are followed by the researcher, who primarily focuses on asking open-ended questions (Cridland, Jones, Caputi & Magee, 2015). Thus, it can be deduced from the proposal that the community members, selected across two remote communities present in Northern Queensland will be subjected to this qualitative method of data collection. Nonetheless, there are certain limitations of this data collection approach. Necessary interviewing skills are required for conducting this approach. In addition, the researchers must recruit sufficient number of individuals for drawing general comparisons between the community members (McIntosh & Morse, 2015). Another potential limitation of this method can be accredited to the fact that adequate planning must be done so as not to make research questions leading and/or prescriptive.
The proposal states that following audio recording of the interview responses, they will be transcribed verbatim and electronically stored in password protected systems. However, the proposal does not elucidate the steps that will be followed for conducting a thematic analysis of the responses. Braun, Clarke, Hayfield and Terry (2019) opined that thematic coding forms a crucial aspect of qualitative research and encompasses the procedure of recording and identification of specific texts and/or statements that are allied with a common theme, thereby permitting indexing of these information into specific categories (Vaismoradi, Jones, Turunen & Snelgrove, 2016). Although there was no information on the approach that will be adopted for the thematic analysis, thus making it a major drawback of the research proposal.
Under circumstances that are marked by collaboration between western and indigenous research traditions, there is a possibility of a plethora of ethical concerns to crop up. This can be accredited to the fact that ethical understandings are typically defied by contrary worldviews, and by diverse approaches to an investigation. Taking into consideration the fact that violation of boundaries often leads to mistrust and/or tension, efforts must be taken to address all potential sources of ethical conflicts. The ethical principles of research practice make it imperative to respect the individual wishes of people, while ensuring non-maleficence, and beneficence (Denzin & Giardina, 2016). Hence, it can be stated that the research has been formulated in a manner that will benefit the wider community that is being investigated, thereby enforcing health promotion. In addition, ethical principles also focus on informing people about the purpose and aim of research, besides ensuring confidentiality of information (Department of Health, 2014). This has been accurately addressed by the researchers who have proposed that all participants will be provided adequate information on the intended investigation and will also be provided the opportunity to withdraw or refuse participation at any time frame, thus demonstrating autonomy. Nonetheless, the researchers need to show concern regarding the impact of the research outcomes on the individuals of the remote indigenous communities.
Although the researchers have tried to abide by the principles P1, P3, and P5 of responsible research conduct that focus on honesty, transparency, and respect, respectively, there is a need to show adherence to the principles P2 (maintaining rigour in research development and reporting), P4 (fair treatment), P6 (recognising indigenous rights), and P7 (remaining accountable for undertaking and reporting the research) (NHMRC, 2018). The questions in semi-structured interview need to be conducted in a manner that takes into account the rich heritage and history of indigenous Australians.
Ethical breach- Probable breach of ethical principles might occur if the researchers do not inform the participants of the possible benefits and risks that are involved in the research. According to the Ethical Guidelines in Social Research a cornerstone of ethical principles while working with indigenous people involves showing respect and value for the language and cultural diversity of the indigenous people. Six core values that must be taken into consideration at the time of conducting this investigation in real time are namely, (i) respect, (ii) reciprocity, (iii) responsibility, (iv) equality, (v) spirit and integrity, and (vi) protection and survival (NHMRC, 2018). Circumstances, under which confidential information and participant identity might have to be revealed to third parties, must also be discussed with the subjects, failure to do which will result in breach of principles. Another potential source of ethical breach is failure on the part of the researchers to provide details on personnel who should be contacted for resolving queries of the participants. Therefore, the researchers should have appropriate qualification, experience, and competence for appreciating the cultural differences of the indigenous people residing in the remote communities. Furthermore, with the aim of protecting, respecting, and maintaining these rights, researchers must have a sound understanding of the traditional cultural expressions, knowledge systems, and intellectual property of indigenous Australians.
The research proposal can be strengthened through the implementation of grounded theory that will facilitate data analysis by deriving explanations and/or theories from the semi-structured interview dataset, rather than previous theoretical viewpoint of the researchers. Conducting multiple coding will also assist in cross-checking the interpretation of collected information by individual researchers (Leung, 2015). Adopting a triangulation approach will prove an effective strategy as it will provide reassurance or corroboration, thus creating a complete view of the entire picture.
Conclusion
To conclude, the researchers are accurate in recognising mental health as a significant contributor of overall health and wellbeing of the indigenous Australians. Their research is based on proven evidences that elaborate on the likelihood of the indigenous people to suffer from mental illness. It is a well-established fact that approaches of discrete researchers are generally considered as a component of a wider agenda that aims to bring about a change in indigenous health practice. Hence, the need for addressing health inequality for the indigenous Australians instils a sense of responsibility and urgency to the healthcare domain. However, there are some discrepancies regarding the research methodology and data analysis procedure that needs to be formulated, in accordance to ethical principles, for determining research reliability and validity.
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