ALARj Action Learning and Action Research Journal
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Migrant sex workers and trafficking - insider research for and by migrant sex workers
No full textResearching marginalised groups is challenging and fraught with ethical issues. These issues can be exacerbated when the researcher is an outsider. Migrant sex workers are a marginalised group due to their position as a sex worker and their migrant status. For outsiders undertaking research with these groups there is the potential for their personal beliefs and moral views around migration, sex work, race, gender and sexuality to influence research methodology, analysis, interpretation and outcomes. Often this has resulted in migrant sex workers being portrayed as victims in need of help, rather than as active, self-determining agents. Much of the research relating to migrant sex workers and trafficking has taken place in institutionalised settings. In such settings, there is good reason for migrant sex workers to identify as coerced victims in need of help rather than as willing migrants who have experienced bad workplace situations and/or who have engaged in alternate migration pathways. Research of this type is usually conducted in detention centres or refuges or worse still citing difficulties in accessing this population, some researchers will only interview service providers and make conclusions without ever speaking to the target population the research makes claims about. Insiders can more readily gain full and uncompromised access to sex workers affected by trafficking policy outside of institutional settings
Action Research for Sustainable Development in a Turbulent World: Reflections and Future Perspectives
No full textThe purpose of this article is to reflect on a panel discussion about an edited book launched at the 2012 ALARA Conference in Sydney. The majority of authors participated in the launch discussion and presented the message of their chapters, exploring real action possibilities for future sustainable development in their particular fields. Here three of them provide a brief account of their reflections: Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt writes the introduction and conclusion of the article, and comments on the background and conceptual framework of the book and its importance for the future; Bob Dick focuses on ‘facilitative action leadership and more flexible approaches to addressing “wicked” problems in an uncertain and complex world’; and Lesley Wood focuses on ‘action research for sustainable social transformation’. The overall message is that participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) and facilitative action leadership are effective and proven methods for sustainable development in our turbulent world in the 21st century. Readers are encouraged to apply and enhance a similar action research process and method to their collaborative work
Editorial
No full textEditors Goff and Crane overview submissions for ALARj Vol 19 No 1 September 201
Membership and submissions
No full textInformation about joining ALARA and separately, about submitting articles as author
How a Coding Error Sparked Short-Term Reform at a Custodial Mental Hospital
No full textThis article highlights the important role played by the research consultant in action research (AR) with organizations lacking experience in behavioural research. In this case, the consultant helped staff of a custodial mental hospital conduct a community survey. When the consultant departed, hospital staff did not realize that questionnaire items had been counterbalanced. The uproar created by the incorrectly scored items, which cast the hospital in a negative light, resulted in several positive reforms. Without further prodding, most of the reforms proved temporary
Improving Indigenous Women’s Wellness Through Action Research
No full textThis paper describes an action research project undertaken with Indigenous women in the highly urbanised area of north Brisbane. The project was a collaborative effort to move beyond the alarming statistics of Indigenous women’s poor health status. It aimed to build a community-based, empowering forum for celebrating and encouraging wellness in a way that was culturally appropriate for Indigenous women. Using a Feminist Participatory Action Research perspective, the authors incorporated the traditional Indigenous method of yarning to work with local Indigenous women Elders and organised two highly successful Women’s Wellness Summits. This paper provides evidence that Feminist Participatory Action Research is an appropriate way of working with urban Indigenous women. It allows Indigenous worldviews to be considered, and fosters a cyclical and conversational approach to research practice. This paper also demonstrates that the emerging method of yarning is highly successful in Indigenous research
Doing participatory evaluation in Indigenous contexts
No full textIn countering the legacies of colonisation, aboriginal communities across Canada are beginning to mount their own locally inspired and developed initiatives in business, health, welfare and education to address needs that they have identified. This paper reports on one such initiative created and launched by the Cree Nation of Wemindji (in Quebec, Canada), called COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or Nigawchiisuun.2 The paper briefly outlines the creation, development and implementation of COOL and the theoretical and methodological framework that supports the project. The paper is organized into three sections. First, a brief background and discussion of the origins, impetus and eventual launch of COOL; second, a general theoretical framework situating participatory evaluation (PE) in relation to the broader field of participatory action research (PAR); and third, the implications and potential of this methodology for indigenous research. The paper concludes with remarks on participatory evaluation as an indigenous alternative to mainstream program evaluation and related managerial technologies
Participatory action research and living theory action research in the Northern Territory
No full textThis article is based on my honours thesis, ‘You or Me? A Social Framework in support of Indigenous community organisation’. It gives an overview of the reflective learning processes analysed in the thesis as I positioned myself as a community development practitioner in the Indigenous research context in Australia. It draws specifically on theory pertaining to participatory action research, Indigenist research and living theory action research