Indigenous Development Research: Why 'high Māori involvement?'
The purpose of Indigenous Development Research is to enable transformation and positive change in Māori communities. The reason that there needs to be 'high Māori involvement' in this research is so that Māori communities themselves may identify issues for research and craft research questions. It is so that approaches to knowledge creation drawn from those communities (approaches suggested by traditional knowledge and the identity, history, experiences and circumstances of those communities) may be uplifted, and it is so that answers to research questions may be fashioned within the context of the particular community for whom the research is ultimately conducted. Finally, the reason for high involvement of Māori (i.e. the community) in the research is so that the outcomes and benefits of research may move quickly into the hands who enable change in our communities. We wish to empower change agents with high quality and reputable knowledge that enables the very best decisions ...