title: Adapting Western research methods to indigenous ways of knowing.
abstract: Indigenous communities have long experienced exploitation by researchers and increasingly require participatory and decolonizing research processes. We present a case study of an intervention research project to exemplify a clash between Western research methodologies and Indigenous methodologies and how we attempted reconciliation. We then provide implications for future research based on lessons learned from Native American community partners who voiced concern over methods of Western deductive qualitative analysis. Decolonizing research requires constant reflective attention and action, and there is an absence of published guidance for this process. Continued exploration is needed for implementing Indigenous methods alone or in conjunction with appropriate Western methods when conducting research in Indigenous communities. Currently, examples of Indigenous methods and theories are not widely available in academic texts or published articles, and are often not perceived as valid.
authors.affiliation: Vanessa W. Simonds is with the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City. Suzanne Christopher is with the Department of Health and Human Development at Montana State University, Bozeman.
authors.forename: Vanessa W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Simonds
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Christopher
mesh_terms: D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States; D019366:Western World