Aboriginal Research Ethics Initiative (M3-3)

Spawned by our discussion about questions to consider before researching in Aboriginal communities I started digging around for more information about Aboriginal research.

One site that turned out to be quite relevant is the Government of Canada’s Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) and more specifically their article on the Aboriginal Research Ethics Initiative (AREI).  The site outlines the following framework for research involving Aboriginal Peoples:

• a commitment to building on local, national and international initiatives
• engagement of and partnership with the community
• application of  PRE’s First Principles to this initiative

These general guidelines provide a great basis for research in this field and the following reseources provided by the site offer a deeper look into the Ethics of such research:

Update on PRE’s Aboriginal Research Ethics Initiative (AREI)

Draft 2nd edition TCPS Chapter 9 Research Involving Aboriginal Peoples

Research Involving Aboriginal Peoples in the TCPS

Anyone actively involved with research in Aboriginal Communities should definately consider visiting this site as there is a lot of great information for researchers.  For example here is a quick list of guidelines from the Research Involving Aboriginal Peoples in the TCPS:

B. Good Practices

Researchers and REBs involved with Aboriginal communities should consider the following “good practices,” which have been drawn from the documents referred to above:

• To respect the culture, traditions and knowledge of the Aboriginal group;
• To conceptualize and conduct research with Aboriginal group as a partnership;
• To consult members of the group who have relevant expertise;
• To involve the group in the design of the project;
• To examine how the research may be shaped to address the needs and concerns of the group;
• To make best efforts to ensure that the emphasis of the research, and the ways chosen to conduct it, respect the many viewpoints of different segments of the group in question;
• To provide the group with information respecting the following:
  • Protection of the Aboriginal group’s cultural estate and other property;
  • The availability of a preliminary report for comment;
  • The potential employment by researchers of members of the community appropriate and without prejudice;
  • Researchers’ willingness to cooperate with community institutions;
  • Researchers’ willingness to deposit data, working papers and related materials in an agreed-upon repository.
• To acknowledge in the publication of the research results the various viewpoints of the community on the topics researched; and
• To afford the community an opportunity to react and respond to the research findings before the completion of the final report, in the final report or even in all relevant publications (see Section 2 on information disclosure). Aboriginal Peoples may wish to react to research findings. It is inappropriate for researchers to dismiss matters of disagreement with the group without giving such matters due consideration. If disagreement persists, researchers should afford the group an opportunity to make its views known, or they should accurately report any disagreement about the interpretation of the data in their reports or publications.