Paper 3, Both-Ways: Self-empowerment: researching in a both-ways framework

This paper has been written as a personal and professional reflection and exploration of our ethics as an Indigenous and non-Indigenous researcher working together in the both-ways framework at Batchelor Institute. It is our assertion that for Indigenous researchers to become empowered through collaborative research endeavours undertaken with non-Indigenous researchers, it is imperative that the collaboration is conducted within a both-ways approach. This means that reflecting on and understanding the process itself must become part of the research collaboration. Research projects are not just about involving Indigenous researchers. They are about making a fundamental shift
away from ‘non-Indigenous researcher = principal researcher’ and ‘Indigenous researcher = co-researcher’, about finding a new way of expressing our roles and responsibilities within collaborative efforts.

The paper will begin with a short explanation of the both-ways philosophy and what both-ways practice might be, and will then use reflections of our own practice in this project to position it within a both- ways framework. The paper will reflect our experiences as researchers against the three principles of practice that we have proposed from
within the research project, Defining both-ways and translating it into Batchelor Institute practice (Ober & Bat 2007, p. 2). The paper concludes with a statement of ethics relevant to this work and a recommendation to review internal procedures and processes that guide research
practices within the Institute, and that this work be informed by the work done on ‘Indigenist research practices’ as presented within this paper.

Research at Batchelor Institute will consist of projects that involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and participants at all stages. The key issues, principles and guidelines are expressed through:

- ethics and values (spirit, integrity, reciprocity, respect, equality,
survival protection, responsibility)

• protocols and procedures

• methodologies

• theoretical frameworks

• Indigenous knowledge systems

• Aboriginal and Islander involvement, negotiation and consultation

• intellectual and cultural property rights and copyright

• outcomes and negotiated agreements, such as joint ownership.

(Batchelor Institute 2007)