The Making it Work project was an Indigenous-focused, community-based research project that uses an Indigenized ‘realist evaluation’ approach. The study aimed to understand what works best for people living with HIV, hepatitis C, and/or challenges with mental health or substance use, who are accessing community-based services. Realist Evaluation is designed to go beyond asking ‘if’ a program works, instead asking how, why, when, and for whom services work well. The project team developed a program theory and adapted the realist evaluation processes, which highlighted the ongoing relational and evolving nature of these services. This was done by using the Medicine Wheel as a visual representation of the important aspects of their programming.
A previous Treehouse piece explored Indigenizing Survey Methods. We continue the discussion with this resource which focuses learnings from Indigenizing data analysis in the Making it Work project. Our data collection methods were complex, as they asked about very complex ideas through a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Therefore, interpreting the data and ensuring all team members perspectives were heard, involved developing unique analysis approaches. We are currently developing a paper to be published that will explore the methods of the Making it Work project in detail.
In this resource, we highlight key approaches to developing and conducting a survey using an Indigenized approach that came from reflections of the survey development and implementation:
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This post was prepared for PAN’s Research and Evaluation Treehouse by:
Leanne Zubowski, Research and Evaluation Assistant, [email protected]