TOWARD AN INDIGENOUS MIXED METHOD APPROACH TO RESEARCH

This chapter is a documentation of our process, sometimes simple and many times untangling and then tangling again our attempts to develop an Indigenous mixed-method approach while engaging in a large multi-year research project. We provide an overview of the challenges with research among Native populations which situates our need to conduct research on our own terms. We then provide a brief overview of Indigenous methodologies, which demands a need for both to be in-relation (Tachine & Nicolazzo, 2022). Critical to our work is being alongside the movement of Indigenous data sovereignty, and therefore, we discuss how Indigenous data sovereignty permitted us to design an Indigenous mixed-method agenda that is by us and for us. Next, we offer insights on what we learn that is tailored to seemingly “how-to” approaches on the initial stage of a mixed-method research project. The lessons include relationality and reflexivity as a means to open up recruitment practices, ethics of care that is rooted in listening and watching, collectively coding, and developing survey constructs and items in a collective manner. We end with questions for future researchers to consider as they embark on an Indigenous mixed-method research project.