Working with Indigenous Research Methodologies in the EER Context: Challenges and Opportunities

Amid calls for Indigenization in engineering education and beyond, some Engineering Education Research (EER) scholars are focusing on Indigenizing engineering curricula and Indigenous inclusion in engineering spaces. Less discussed within EER contexts are Indigenous research methodologies, which are research methodologies predicated upon Indigenous paradigms that typically emphasize relationality. This paper aims to act as a resource for EER scholars interested in working with Indigenous research methodologies by providing an account of how one Indigenous research study was conducted. Through a critical reflective process, this paper addresses how methodological decisions were made in the context of a study and how those decisions were at once difficult and rewarding. The findings highlight several points in the qualitative research process where there were tensions between Western and Indigenous worldviews in the research process, including the role of the researcher, underlying research paradigms, and how those tensions were addressed.