Abstract
This chapter outlines issues to be considered when working on health and other research with people from asylum seeker or refugee backgrounds in countries of resettlement. The chapter highlights the utility of a Social Determinants of Health framework and outlines the importance of ethical research, which balances the considerations of formal ethics committees by ensuring that the voices of the most vulnerable people within this population are able to be heard. In addition, the chapter highlights the need to facilitate the full participation of people with asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds, including in the governance structures of the research project and initial research design, in order to ensure that the outcomes of the research are relevant and address community needs and concerns. The chapter also outlines appropriate methodologies, including emerging and innovative research methods such as visual scales, photovoice, photolanguage, and digital storytelling, as well as discussing the ways in which these data collection methods contribute to high quality quantitative and qualitative data. Finally, the chapter also covers the challenges of working cross-culturally such as the use of standardized scales and interpreting and translation, and the need to ensure that research is culturally appropriate, consultative, and meaningful.
References
Bessell AG, Deese WB, Medina AL. Photolanguage. Am J Eval. 2016;28 (4):558–569
Birman D. Ethical issues in research with immigrants and refugees. In: Trimble JE, Fisher CB, editors. The handbook of ethical research with ethnocultural populations and communities. Thousand Oaks: Sage; 2006. p. 155–78.
Bloch A. Methodological challenges for national and multi-sited comparative survey research. J Refug Stud. 2007;20(2):230–47.
Block K, Warr D, Gibbs L, Riggs E. Addressing ethical and methodological challenges in research with refugee-background young people: reflections from the field. J Refug Stud. 2012;26(1):69–87.
Browne-Yung K, Ziersch A, Baum F. Neighbourhood, disorder, safety and reputation and the built environment: perceptions of low income individuals and relevance for health. Urban Policy Res. 2016;34(1):17–38.
Charmaz K. Constructing grounded theory: a practical guide through qualitative analysis. 2nd ed. London: Sage; 2014.
Cooney J, Burton K. Photolanguage Australia: human values. Sydney: Catholic Education Office; 1986.
Corbin J, Strauss A. Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage; 2015.
Correa-Velez I, Gifford SM, Barnett AG. Longing to belong: social inclusion and wellbeing among youth with refugee backgrounds in the first three years in Melbourne, Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2010;71:1399–408.
Crivello G, Camfield L, Woodhead M. How can children tell us about their wellbeing? Exploring the potential of participatory research approaches within young lives. Soc Indic Res. 2009;90:51–72.
Darbyshire P, MacDougall C, Schiller W. Multiple methods in qualitative research with children, more research or just more? Qual Res. 2005;5:417–36.
Drew S, Duncan R, Sawyer S. Visual storytelling: a beneficial but challenging method for health research with young people. Qual Health Res. 2010;20(12):1677–88.
Due C, Riggs DW. Freedom to roam? Space use in primary schools with new arrivals programs. Online J Int Res Early Child Educ. 2011;2:1–16.
Due C, Riggs DW, Augoustinos M. Research with children of migrant and refugee background: a review of child-centered research. Child Indic Res. 2014;7:209–27.
Due C, Riggs DW, Augoustinos M. Experiences of school belonging for young children with refugee backgrounds. Educ Dev Psychol. 2016;33:33.
Ehntholt K, Yule W. Practitioner review: assessment and treatment of refugee children and adolescents who have experienced war-related trauma. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(12):1197–210.
Ellis BH, Kia-Keating M, Yusuf SA, Lincoln A, Nur A. Ethical research in refugee communities and the use of community participatory methods. Transcult Psychiatry. 2007;44(3):459–81.
Freire P. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc; 2005.
Fullana J, Pallisera M, Vilà M. Advancing towards inclusive social research: visual methods as opportunities for people with severe mental illness to participate in research. Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2014;16(6):723–38.
Gartley T, Due C. ‘The interpreter is not an invisible being’: a thematic analysis of the impact of interpreters in mental health service provision with refugee clients. Aust Psychol. 2016;52:31.
Gifford S, Bakopanos C, Kaplan I, Correa-Velez I. Meaning or measurement? Researching the social contexts of health and settlement among newly-arrived refugee youth in Melbourne, Australia. J Refug Stud. 2007;20(3):414–40.
Gifford S, Correa-Velez I, Sampson R. Good starts for recently arrived youth with refugee backgrounds: promoting wellbeing in the first three years of settlement in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne: Refugee Health Research Centre & Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture; 2009.
Hanza MM, Goodson M, Osman A, Porazz Capetillo MD, Hared A, Nigon SJ, Meiers JA, Weis ML, Wieland, Sia IG. Lessons learned from community-led recruitment of immigrants and refugee participants for a randomized, community-based participatory research study. J Immigr Minor Health. 2016;18(5):1241–5.
Haque N, Eng B. Tackling inequity through a photovoice project on the social determinants of health: translating photovoice evidence to community action. Glob Health Promot. 2011;18(1):16–9.
Hartley L, Pedersen A, Fleay C, Hoffman S. The situation is hopeless; we must take the next step: reflecting on social action by academics in the asylum seeker policy debate. Aust Community Psychol. 2013;25(2):22–37.
Higginbottom G, Liamputtong P, editors. Participatory qualitative research methodologies in health. London: Sage; 2015.
Hugman R, Pittaway E, Bartolomei L. When ‘do no harm’ is not enough: the ethics of research with refugees and other vulnerable groups. Br J Soc Work. 2011;41:1271–87.
Jacobsen K, Landau LB. The dual imperative in refugee research: some methodological and ethical considerations in social science research on forced migration. Disasters. 2003;27(3):185–206.
Kabranian-Melkonian S. Ethical concerns with refugee research. J Hum Behav Soc Environ. 2015;25(7):714–22.
Kilpatrick DG. The ethics of disaster research: A special section. J Trauma Stress. 2004;17 (5):361–362
Kurban H, Liamputtong P. Health, social integration and social support: the lived experiences of young Middle-Eastern refugees living in Melbourne, Australia. Unpublished paper submitted for publication. 2017.
Lee SK, Sulaiman-Hill CR, Thompson SC. Overcoming language barriers in community-based research with refugee and migrant populations: options for using bilingual workers. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2014;14:11. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/14/11
Lenette C, Boddy J. Visual ethnography: promoting the mental health of refugee women. Qual Res J. 2013;13(1):72–89.
Lenette C, Cox L, Brough M. Digital storytelling as a social work tool: learning from ethnographic research with women from refugee backgrounds. Br J Soc Work. 2015;45(3):988–1005.
Levine C. The concept of vulnerability in disaster research. J Trauma Stress. 2004;17(5):395–402.
Liamputtong P. Researching the vulnerable: a guide to sensitive research methods. London: Sage; 2007.
Liamputtong P. Performing qualitative cross-cultural research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2010.
Liamputtong P, Fernandes S. What makes people sick? The drawing method and children’s conceptualisation of health and illness. Aust J Early Child. 2015;40(1):23–32.
Liamputtong P, Fanany R, Verrinder G, editors. Health, illness and well-being: perspectives and social determinants. Melbourne: Oxford University Press; 2012.
Loehr N. At home in the market: risk, acculturation and sector integration in the private rental tenancies of humanitarian migrants. Unpublished thesis, Flinders University, Adelaide. 2016.
Mackenzie C, McDowell C, Pittaway E. Beyond “do no harm”: the challenge of constructing ethical relationships in refugee research. J Refug Stud. 2007;20(2):299–319.
McMaster D. Temporary protection visas: obstructing refugee livelihoods. Refugee Survey Quarterly. 2006;25(2):135–145
McMichael C. The health of migrants and refugees. In: Laimputtong P, editor. Public health: local and global perspectives. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press; 2016. p. 330–49.
McMichael C, Nunn C, Gifford S, Correa-Velez I. Studying refugee settlement through longitudinal research: methodological and ethical insights from the good starts study. J Refug Stud. 2014;28(2):238–57.
Meadows D. Digital storytelling: research-based practice in new media. Vis Commun. 2003;2(2):189–93.
Morrow V. Ethical dilemmas in research with children and young people about their social environments. Child Geogr. 2008;6(1):49–61.
Newman E, Kaloupek DG. The risks and benefits of participating in trauma-focused research studies. J Trauma Stress. 2004;17(5):383–394
Newman M, Woodcock A, Dunham P. ‘Playtime in the borderlands’: children’s representations of school, gender and bullying through photographs and interviews. Child Geogr. 2006;4(3):289–302.
O’Kane C. The development of participatory techniques: facilitating children’s views about decisions which affect them. In: Christensen P, James A, editors. Research with children: perspectives and practices. London: Falmer Press; 2000. p. 136–59.
Pittaway E, Bartolomei L. Women at risk – field research report: Thailand 2003. Sydney: Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales; 2003.
Punch S. Research with children: the same or different from research with adults? Childhood. 2002;9(3):321–41.
Rogers D, Darcy M, Arthurson K Researching territorial stigma with social housing tenants: tenant-led digital media production about people and place. In: Kirkness P, Tijé-Dra A, editors. Negative neighbourhood reputation and place attachment: conceptual approaches, policy responses and resistance to territorial stigmatisation. Ashgate: Surrey; in press.
Schmidt A. ‘I know what you’re doing’, reflexivity and methods in Refugee Studies. Refugee Surv Q. 2007;26(3):82–99
Schweitzer R, Steel Z. Researching refugees: methodological and ethical considerations. In: Liamputtong P, editor. Doing cross-cultural research: ethical and methodological perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer; 2008. p. 87–101.
Seamer B. Picture this: 75 colour photographs for conversation and reflection. Bendigo: St Luke’s Innovative Resources; 2007.
Solar O, Irwin A. A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health, Social Determinants of Health Discussion Paper 2 (Policy and Practice). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2010.
Spring M, Westermeyer J, Halcon LL, Savik K, Robertson C, Johnson DR, Butcher JN, Jaranson JM. Sampling in difficult to access refugee and immigrant communities. J Nervous Mental Dis. 2003;191(12): 813–819.
UNHCR. Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees. Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; 1967.
UNHCR. Worldwide displacement hits all time high as was and persecution increase. 2015. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html
Vervliet M, Rousseau C, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. Multilayered ethics in research involving unaccompanied refugee minors. J Refug Stud. 2015;28(4):468–85.
Vigneswaran D, Quirk J. Representing ‘hidden’ populations: a symposium on sampling technique. J Refug Stud. 2012;26(1):110–6.
Wallerstein NB, Duran B. Using community-based participatory research to address health disparities. Health Promot Pract. 2006;7:312–23.
World Health Organization. Preamble to the constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19–22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. 1948. http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html. Accessed 16 June 2016.
World Health Organization. Mental health: a state of wellbeing. 2014. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/. Accessed 16 June 2016.
World Health Organization. Social determinants of health. 2016. http://www.who.int/topics/social_determinants/en/. Accessed 16 June 2016.
Young L, Barrett H. Adapting visual methods: action research with Kampala street children. Area. 2001;33(2):141–52.
Zeinstra GC, Koelen MA, Colindres D, Kok FJ, de Graaf C. Facial expressions in school-aged children are a good indicator of ‘dislikes’, but not of ‘likes’. Food Qual Prefer. 2009;20:620–624.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ziersch, A., Due, C., Arthurson, K., Loehr, N. (2017). Conducting Ethical Research with People from Asylum Seeker and Refugee Backgrounds. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779-6_50-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779-6_50-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2779-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2779-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences