Thesis abstract:

The practice of Community-Led Research (CLR) has developed out of a need for research with greater community control and impact. While the CLR approach is utilised by some researchers across diverse disciplines such as education, social work, health, anthropology, and archaeology, it remains less well known to the broader research community. Aboriginal communities in Australia have been practicing the approach for decades however this is largely demonstrated in work that does not use the term CLR. A review of the literature demonstrates that research outcomes are greater and more sustainable when Aboriginal communities hold the decision making power in the research design and practice.

CLR challenges existing forms of knowledge production by assigning decision making power to the community rather than the researcher. The community leads by deciding the reserach topic and design through to outcomes. In CLR the community is valued as expert knowledge holders of lived experiences and culture. Historically the academy has decided who can be the knower, what can be known and what constitutes knowledge and truth. CLR allows for Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing, resulting culturally safe and quality research outcomes.

The reserach project aims to privlidge Aboriginal voices and experiences of CLR to contribute to the growing body of the theoretical discourse and promote best practice. The research will utilise a grounded theory framework, an Indigenous research paradigm and an Aboriginal community engagement model to centre community voices. The research will use mixed methods in the form of 40 questionnaire surveys, followed by 20 qualitative in-depth, semi-structured Yarning interviews, and a collaborative analysis of the findings. The research aims to explore what Aboriginal CLR means to those working with the approach, the strengths of CLR and the challenges.