Every research to be conducted at this Australian university which includes students or staff members must be granted ethical approval by the university’s Human Research Ethics Committee. Due to the fact that my research project involved Indigenous people as a vulnerable minority, it was rated as high-risk. In order to receive ethical approval and the permission to conduct my research within a reasonable time, I had to adhere to strict standards.

First of all people and places mentioned on this blog are completely anonymised. Furthermore, all participants were approached in a non-compulsive way. Before seeking ethical approval, I talked to the lecturers and tutors to who I had a good relationship and discussed with them if and under which conditions they would be willing to participate in my project. My ideas were met with positive feedback by all them. After I had received ethical approval, they were provided with an information sheet outlining the research and a consent form to be signed. The tutors then circulated the information among the students. In this way, students who were interested in participating were asked to contact me.

For more details concerning the methods used for data collection, please click here. To read about additional ethical precautions for the Thick Descriptions, please click here.

To find out how the ethical requirements influenced my research and its findings, please click here.

The Participants
For an anonymous presentation of the participants, please click read more.