Decolonising Research and Evaluation: The Power of Peer Researchers
David Reid
Senior Consultant Associate
Western, colonial research and evaluation methodologies have long been tools of power, often conducted about communities rather than with them. They have been academic methods of reinforcing dominant social norms, with the ultimate interest to uphold the monoculture and further push minority perspectives to the periphery. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, these methodologies have historically excluded (and, in instances, still do exclude) their voices and ways of knowing, perpetuating a cycle of misrepresentation and marginalisation.
At Karabena Consulting, we believe in challenging this status quo. I wrote in a recent blog post about the methods we employ to decolonise research and evaluation through our report writing process, aiming to centre the voices of those who are directly affected by our work. This is our attempt to humanise research and evaluation, resisting Western, colonial methodologies that have marginalised and silenced the perspectives of those that oppose social paradigms. In our endeavour, I wrote, we operate in a methodological duality - a theoretical space in which we maintain integrity to stringent academic standards, yet at the same time our responsibility to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we represent. Ultimately, what we are trying to promote is self-determination.
This is, however, not limited to how we present findings. Every stage of our projects is a way of challenging systemic biases. This includes the ways we gather data. One of the most impactful ways we have found to achieve this is through engaging peer researchers - individuals with lived experience who bring authenticity, empathy, and trust to the process.
Who Are Peer Researchers?
Peer researchers are individuals from the communities being studied who actively participate in the research process. This includes distributing surveys, conducting interviews, and running focus groups. They bring their lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and unique perspectives to the table, making research more relevant, inclusive, and meaningful.
This approach shifts the power dynamics in research, ensuring that those most affected by the outcomes have a direct voice in shaping them. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it’s a way of reclaiming narratives and embedding cultural values into methodologies. It methodology with self-determination at its heart.
Decolonising Through Peer Research
Engaging peer researchers disrupts traditional research paradigms in several ways:
Centring Lived Experience: Peer researchers bring invaluable lived experiences, ensuring that the research reflects the realities and priorities of their community. This challenges the ‘outsider’ perspective often embedded in mainstream methodologies.
Building Trust and Relationships: Through shared experiences and empathy, peer researchers invite trust, openness, and authentic engagement in the research process.
Shifting Power Dynamics: By involving peer researchers as equal collaborators, this approach dismantles hierarchical research structures and redistributes power.
Creating Culturally Safe Spaces: Peer researchers ensure that the research environment respects and reflects cultural practices, making participants feel seen and heard.
Valuing Indigenous Knowledge Systems: This approach acknowledges that cultural and community-based ways of knowing, being, and doing are equally valid as academic frameworks, if not more so in certain contexts.
Peer Research at Karabena Consulting
Recently, in our evaluation of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s (DFFH) Better Futures and Home Stretch programs, Karabena engaged a peer researcher - an Aboriginal young person with lived experience of the programs - to conduct consultations with other Aboriginal young people. Their contributions were transformative:
Authentic Consultations: The peer researcher conducted interviews and focus groups, drawing out honest and nuanced perspectives from participants through an environment of reciprocity.
Cultural Safety: Their deep understanding of the lived experiences of Aboriginal young people in the out-of-home care system enriched the data, uncovering themes that may have been overlooked by external researchers.
Empowerment Through Research: The peer researcher gained new skills, confidence, and a sense of ownership over the project.
In their words:
“I believe it is very beneficial to have a peer researcher present as it’s more likely to gain realistic and fuller responses. It helps others be comfortable enough to share their truth, knowing that they’re in a safe space with someone that’s experienced something similar. After participating in this role, although something I’m interested in anyway, I will definitely be keeping a keener eye out for other opportunities like this. I have been able to use this as an opportunity for personal growth also, working on my skills when it come to the interview process and talking to different audiences, meeting and connecting with new people, as well as a family connection!”
This approach not only strengthened the research but also created connections and opportunities. It has deepened our relationship with the peer researcher, and has created a pathway for future collaborations on other Karabena projects.
The Challenges and Opportunities
While engaging peer researchers is powerful, it also requires thoughtful planning and investment. Challenges can include:
Training and Support: Ensuring peer researchers have the skills and resources needed for their role.
Time and Funding: Co-designed research can be more time-intensive but leads to richer, more meaningful outcomes.
Navigating Dual Roles and Vicarious Trauma: Peer researchers may face the emotional demands of balancing their lived experience with their role as researchers.
However, with the right training and support mechanisms in place these challenges are manageable.
Engaging Peer Researchers Effectively
To ensure success, we recommend adopting these best practices:
Provide Comprehensive Training: We recommend at least two full days of training in which peer researchers are equipped with the tools they need to conduct consultations, collect data, and manage risk of vicarious trauma.
Compensate Fairly: Recognise the value of their contributions with fair remuneration and ongoing support.
Co-Design the Process: Involve peer researchers in designing the methodology and questions from the outset, acknowledging their expertise through lived experience. Also include them in the development of findings and recommendations, and communicating insights to project sponsors and other key stakeholders.
Create a Safe Space: Offer cultural and emotional safety, including access to mentors or counselors if needed, and regular preparation and debriefing sessions.
Concluding Thoughts
Engaging peer researchers is not just a methodological choice - it’s a statement. It’s about reclaiming narratives, centering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, and embedding lived experiences into research and evaluation processes.
It is important to invest in this methodology - because it works. Not only that, it is necessary, with the Indigenous Productivity Commissioner’s report highlighting the need for investment in community driven research. This methodology is often challenged in procurement processes, because it does, rightly so, cost more. As such, we are often not funded to do this work well. However, what we do is build this in as a capability whether we are fully funded to deliver this type of work or not because we are impassioned by self-determination and Indigenous data sovereignty.
In instances where we are engaged by champions of decolonised research in government and funding organisations, we are able to fully realise our aspirations and the aspirations of peer researchers. For instance, we would never have been able to engage peer researchers in the Better Futures evaluation without the advocacy of key representatives in the Centre of Evaluation and Research Evidence (CERE) and DFFH.
At Karabena we are proud to embrace peer-led methodologies as part of our commitment to decolonising research. By sharing power and valuing lived experience, we can create research outcomes that truly reflect and serve communities.