Steps toward an inclusive research methodology for ‘at-risk’ youth

Due to a range of historical and structural factors, a large percentage of Australian Indigenous youths experience socioeconomic disadvantage (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). This presentation will offer reflections from the author’s experience collecting data for their doctoral dissertation. The author was involved with the collection of experience sampling method (ESM) data, focused on young people’s experiences of daily stressors and emotions, from 206 adolescents who were deemed ‘at-risk’ due to living in a context of socioeconomic disadvantage. The bulk of the presentation will outline the steps the author took to adapt research methodology to accommodate a sample of ‘at risk’ youth. As a second focus of the presentation, the author will discuss how these research processes can be applied to an inclusive research methodology, with a specific focus on including Indigenous youth in the research process. The content of the presentation is foreshadowed by the author’s personal experience of being an Aboriginal researcher working within an ethnocentric research framework.