Survey to story: a methods paper describing mixed-method administration of surveys in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory
Objective. Survey tools are a common approach to gathering data on experiences and opinions, particularly in psychosocial disciplines and public healthcare. In working across language and culture with First Nations peoples, the use of surveys can be challenging, particularly in remote community settings. Via secondary analysis of audio recorded surveys with First Nations mothers we examined conversation occurring between the interviewer and participant during survey administration, to explore implications for the design, delivery, and data quality of quantitative surveys.
Method. Content analysis was applied to 27 audio recorded interviews to determine the function of dialogue occurring between researcher and participant. Initial coding of seven transcripts provided the basis for a coding structure for hypothesis coding of the remaining interviews.
Results. Dialogue between the researcher and the participant predominantly occurred to 1. ensure accurate data via ‘facilitating participant understanding of the item’ and ‘specifying participant response to the item’. Though less frequent, equally important was a process of 2. building connection and understanding via dialogue initiated by the interviewer to ‘explore participant context’ and dialogue initiated by the participant to ‘share personal narratives.’
Conclusions. Findings have implications for the design of surveys, particularly providing space for dialogue. Doing so requires more time, and consequently resources, when conducting surveys with First Nations peoples in remote communities. This mixed-method approach has potential to better the accuracy of data gathered and mitigate the risk of missing responses. Despite reliance in survey research on carefully framed items and Likert scales that typify administration and psychometric thinking, in remote First Nations contexts, social interactions that accompany survey administration represent a process of meaning-making, where the aim is to come to mutual agreement on item responses that 'best fit' the participant.
