Analysis of Research Proposal

This essay provides an analysis of a research proposal on the mental health outcome of indigenous Australians and its comparison with non-indigenous residents. It discusses the methodology, critical analysis, ethical integrity, and provides recommendations for strengthening the proposal. The research aims to explore the extent of depression and associated wellbeing perceived by the community members and healthcare professionals in remote communities.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1
Analysis of research proposal
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction- Research proposal refers to documents that provide an overview of an
investigation that is intended to be conducted in the field of academia or science, and
typically constitutes requests for research sponsorship. The research proposal to be analysed
in this essay focuses on the mental health outcome of indigenous Australians, and also
compares them with non-indigenous residents of the nation. There is mounting evidence for
the fact that there exist several challenges, in relation to prevention of relapse of mental
illness among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders (Sarnyai, Berger & Jawan, 2016).
The government has also recognised the need of addressing this issue on a wider context,
with the aim of uplifting the social and emotional wellbeing of the people. The researchers
also based their proposal on findings from the National Survey that contained information on
the high prevalence of poor wellbeing and mental illness among indigenous people who are
aged between 18-64 years (ABS, 2016). Hence, it can be suggested that the researchers based
their proposed investigation on a phenomenon, which was of considerable importance to the
current context.
Overview of methodology- The researchers aimed to explore the extent by which
depression and associated wellbeing was being perceived by the community members and
healthcare professionals, across two remote communities. This was a well-defined research
question since an estimated 55% indigenous people were found to reside in very remote and
remote regions, who spoke indigenous Australian languages (AIHW, 2017). In addition,
substantial decline has also been observed in the rates of numeracy and literacy across remote
regions, and regional disparities exist between the residents, when compared to their urban
counterparts (Johnson et al., 2014). In addition, Hinton, Kavanagh, Barclay, Chenhall and
Nagel (2015) had stated that individuals living in rural regions face several stressors related
to educational attainment, transport and access to healthcare facilities that results in
deterioration of their health outcomes, thus worsening the overall wellbeing and quality of

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life. The researchers stated that their major three objectives were namely, (i) exploring the
stressors and strengths of indigenous communities, (ii) assessing the understanding of the
concept of wellbeing by health professionals and community members, and (iii) identifying
better work opportunities, in relation to community members having poor emotional
wellbeing.
Critical analysis of the methodology- The researchers aimed to conduct a qualitative
research that would help in determining stressors experienced by the indigenous people, in
addition to their wellbeing. The research approach is typically exploratory in nature and helps
in gaining a sound understanding of the opinions, motivations, and reasons of individuals.
Although conducting a qualitative study can be suggested a correct approach since it will help
the researchers delve deeper into the feelings and behaviour of indigenous people across two
remote communities, and will also provide an explanation their responses, there are several
drawbacks of this method. Collection of qualitative information is generally more time
consuming, when compared to quantitative data collection and thus requires allocation of
necessary staff, time and resources for the study. Taking into consideration the fact that
relatively less number of indigenous people will be assessed, it will become difficult for the
researchers to generalise the results, to a wider population (Silverman, 2016). In addition, the
quality of the collected information will be highly subjective. Hence, the personal nature of
the information might act in the form of a negative component of the research procedure. It is
a well-known fact that the human mind generally tries to remember things in a manner that it
wants to remember. Therefore, individual perspectives will form the basis of this research
and will make it problematic for the researchers to determine data rigidity (Corbin, Strauss &
Strauss, 2014). The researchers stated that they would adopt the process of snowballing and
purposive sampling for recruitment of healthcare professionals and community members,
across the population.

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According to Etikan, Musa and Alkassim (2016) this type of sampling involves a non-
probability process where research participants are primarily selected based on the population
characteristics, and the research objectives. One major advantage of selecting this sampling
procedure is that it will assist the researchers in reaching the target quickly. Taking into
consideration that the sampling type contains seven different categories, it will also allow
selection of homogenous population sample. However, one noteworthy weakness of the
process is the fact that purposive sampling fails to account for proportionality as the major
concern (Robinson, 2014). Owing to the fact that it is highly dependent on the researcher,
there lies a possibility of unconscious or conscious bias entering the data that is collected,
thus reducing validity of the information. Furthermore, since researchers will have to use
their decision in choosing the target population for purposive sampling, it will be problematic
to support the conclusions drawn from the collected data.
The other method of participant recruitment, snowball sampling involves recruitment
of future research subjects by existing subjects, from their friends and acquaintances. This
will help the study sample to grow in the form of a rolling snowball (Emerson, 2015).
Although the process is simple and cost-efficient, the researchers would not have much
control over the sampling procedure (Johnson, 2014). In addition, the process does not
guarantee representativeness of the target population. There also lies the possibility of
sampling bias while following this procedure since the participants recruited initially will
demonstrate a likelihood of nominating subjects who are well-known.
The researchers have stated that participants might belong to any cultural background.
This is not in alignment with the research aim and objectives since the investigation was
based on the health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
According to Paradies (2016) racism is a major issue that results in disparities, in relation to
access to proper treatment services, for major illnesses. Therefore, the researchers should

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focus on recruitment of indigenous participants for showing congruence to their aim. It has
been found that prejudice and stigma linked with mental disorders persists across the
indigenous culture and leads to a worsening of their wellbeing and quality of life (Gee,
Dudgeon, Schultz, Hart & Kelly, 2014). This eventually results in reluctance among
indigenous people to gain access to adequate healthcare amenities. This calls for the need of
recruiting study subjects who are Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, in order to
determine their perception of depression, a mental disorder and associated wellbeing, in
remote communities. The researchers stated that all participants will also be provided with a
consent form that will ask questions on previous diagnosis of a mental illness. This is in
accordance to the concept of informed consent that is primarily taken to seek voluntary
agreement of participants for enrolling them in an investigation, after gaining an insight into
the research aim, advantages, and possible limitations (Bok, 2017). However, besides
determining previous diagnosis, the eligibility criteria must also encompass certain aspects
namely, (i) indigenous people and (ii) residence in remote location for at least three years.
The researchers stated that they would conduct semi-structured interview and
thematic analysis for seeking answers to the aforementioned research objectives. Semi-
structured interviews encompass organisation of meetings where no formalist set of questions
are followed by the researcher, who primarily focuses on asking open-ended questions
(Cridland, Jones, Caputi & Magee, 2015). Thus, it can be deduced from the proposal that the
community members, selected across two remote communities present in Northern
Queensland will be subjected to this qualitative method of data collection. Nonetheless, there
are certain limitations of this data collection approach. Necessary interviewing skills are
required for conducting this approach. In addition, the researchers must recruit sufficient
number of individuals for drawing general comparisons between the community members
(McIntosh & Morse, 2015). Another potential limitation of this method can be accredited to

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the fact that adequate planning must be done so as not to make research questions leading
and/or prescriptive.
The proposal states that following audio recording of the interview responses, they
will be transcribed verbatim and electronically stored in password protected systems.
However, the proposal does not elucidate the steps that will be followed for conducting a
thematic analysis of the responses. Braun, Clarke, Hayfield and Terry (2019) opined that
thematic coding forms a crucial aspect of qualitative research and encompasses the procedure
of recording and identification of specific texts and/or statements that are allied with a
common theme, thereby permitting indexing of these information into specific categories
(Vaismoradi, Jones, Turunen & Snelgrove, 2016). Although there was no information on the
approach that will be adopted for the thematic analysis, thus making it a major drawback of
the research proposal.
Ethical integrity- Under circumstances that are marked by collaboration between
western and indigenous research traditions, there is a possibility of a plethora of ethical
concerns to crop up. This can be accredited to the fact that ethical understandings are
typically defied by contrary worldviews, and by diverse approaches to an investigation.
Taking into consideration the fact that violation of boundaries often leads to mistrust and/or
tension, efforts must be taken to address all potential sources of ethical conflicts. The ethical
principles of research practice make it imperative to respect the individual wishes of people,
while ensuring non-maleficence, and beneficence (Denzin & Giardina, 2016). Hence, it can
be stated that the research has been formulated in a manner that will benefit the wider
community that is being investigated, thereby enforcing health promotion. In addition, ethical
principles also focus on informing people about the purpose and aim of research, besides
ensuring confidentiality of information (Department of Health, 2014). This has been
accurately addressed by the researchers who have proposed that all participants will be

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provided adequate information on the intended investigation and will also be provided the
opportunity to withdraw or refuse participation at any time frame, thus demonstrating
autonomy. Nonetheless, the researchers need to show concern regarding the impact of the
research outcomes on the individuals of the remote indigenous communities.
Although the researchers have tried to abide by the principles P1, P3, and P5 of
responsible research conduct that focus on honesty, transparency, and respect, respectively,
there is a need to show adherence to the principles P2 (maintaining rigour in research
development and reporting), P4 (fair treatment), P6 (recognising indigenous rights), and P7
(remaining accountable for undertaking and reporting the research) (NHMRC, 2018). The
questions in semi-structured interview need to be conducted in a manner that takes into
account the rich heritage and history of indigenous Australians.
Ethical breach- Probable breach of ethical principles might occur if the researchers do
not inform the participants of the possible benefits and risks that are involved in the research.
According to the Ethical Guidelines in Social Research a cornerstone of ethical principles
while working with indigenous people involves showing respect and value for the language
and cultural diversity of the indigenous people. Six core values that must be taken into
consideration at the time of conducting this investigation in real time are namely, (i) respect,
(ii) reciprocity, (iii) responsibility, (iv) equality, (v) spirit and integrity, and (vi) protection
and survival (NHMRC, 2018). Circumstances, under which confidential information and
participant identity might have to be revealed to third parties, must also be discussed with the
subjects, failure to do which will result in breach of principles. Another potential source of
ethical breach is failure on the part of the researchers to provide details on personnel who
should be contacted for resolving queries of the participants. Therefore, the researchers
should have appropriate qualification, experience, and competence for appreciating the
cultural differences of the indigenous people residing in the remote communities.

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Furthermore, with the aim of protecting, respecting, and maintaining these rights, researchers
must have a sound understanding of the traditional cultural expressions, knowledge systems,
and intellectual property of indigenous Australians.
Recommendations- The research proposal can be strengthened through the
implementation of grounded theory that will facilitate data analysis by deriving explanations
and/or theories from the semi-structured interview dataset, rather than previous theoretical
viewpoint of the researchers. Conducting multiple coding will also assist in cross-checking
the interpretation of collected information by individual researchers (Leung, 2015). Adopting
a triangulation approach will prove an effective strategy as it will provide reassurance or
corroboration, thus creating a complete view of the entire picture.
Conclusion- To conclude, the researchers are accurate in recognising mental health as
a significant contributor of overall health and wellbeing of the indigenous Australians. Their
research is based on proven evidences that elaborate on the likelihood of the indigenous
people to suffer from mental illness. It is a well-established fact that approaches of discrete
researchers are generally considered as a component of a wider agenda that aims to bring
about a change in indigenous health practice. Hence, the need for addressing health inequality
for the indigenous Australians instils a sense of responsibility and urgency to the healthcare
domain. However, there are some discrepancies regarding the research methodology and data
analysis procedure that needs to be formulated, in accordance to ethical principles, for
determining research reliability and validity.

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