3.4.1 Process of Recruitment
As the project is driven by the data gathered through the perspective of the participants and the findings from the observations, the research design has been necessarily open to changes. The recruitment strategy has been adjusted to the realities of the field over the course of the study. The initial criteria for recruiting participants was to only include residents from a Filipino or Indian background who have settled in Australia within the last ten years and bought a house in a MPE.
Limited response rates with initial target locations led to adjustments to the research design. As some participants from Wyndham Gardens Estate had already been recruited, it was possible to initiate a snow-balling system to gain access to further residents. The focus was extended to all of Wyndham social activities and groups, enabling wider targeting of Indian and Filipino residents and the incorporation of data on the community experience of participants who were not living in an MPE, as a counterpoint to the experiences of Wyndham residents.
This adoption of the recruitment strategy and research design has shown the importance of establishing contacts within social networks and the need for a flexible recruitment approach. By getting in touch with local community leaders and gaining the trust of individual residents, it was
38 possible to gain further contacts. Even though in the initial recruitment strategy all households in Wyndham Gardens Estate were approached, only a limited response was achieved, despite giving an incentive to take part in the project. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge that the sample has a certain bias with participants being engaged in activities or groups associated with Filipino or Indian culture and in general interested in taking part in the research. In this sense, the research cannot claim to be representative for all residents. However, it is not the objective of the study to devise
‘the’ Indian or ‘the’ Filipino experience or aspiration of community, but instead to create a more diverse understanding of community and the influence of settling in a different social environment.
For this argument, the individual narratives of participants and shared experiences are seen to be more relevant than having a representative sample.
3.4.2 Reflection on Social Role
The project has been carried out by me as an individual investigator shaping my social role in the field. It is important to acknowledge and reflect on my social role in this process. No ethnographic research can be undertaken from a neutral, value-free perspective: “We are all products of our culture. We have personal beliefs, biases, and individual tastes” (Fetterman 1998). In this regard, the entire fieldwork, such as observations and contacts with participants, is influenced by the role of the researcher. Even though the study tries to reflect the view of the participants as closely as possible and by triangulating methods various perspectives are validated, nevertheless the analysis of data and findings are established through subjective interpretation. This is a common challenge for all ethnographic research as the validity of generated data is controversially debated (Bryman 2001).
This problem of representing social reality is based on the influence of the researcher as the researcher ‘generates’ the data (Brewer 2000). Therefore, the researcher needs to apply a critical stance in regard to the research process. The following section will reflect on my role as researcher conducting the project to emphasise potential biases in the data collected.
First of all, as part of my PhD thesis the research has been carried out as an academic project based in the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University. For participants, this affiliation has been made known, for example, by the use of RMIT’s logo on the advertisements for the research or by the use of my staff email address. This academic background may have given credibility to the study. For some participants, it was a motivation to take part in the project in order to contribute to academic discourses or because they have had their own experiences of being a researcher. For example, as the research was conducted as part of a PhD thesis, helping ‘a student’ was mentioned as a reason for taking part. This may have had an influence on the willingness of participants to take part and may have influenced the sample. It seems plausible that for other residents it did not seem worthwhile to take part in an academic project undertaken by a PhD student, as it will not provide them with any direct benefit.
As another factor, gender may have influenced my social role in the field. Although the project has aimed to have a relatively equal proportion of males and females, more men have taken part in the
39 study. This imbalance can be partially explained through the recruitment strategy, as more male participants were nominated by other participants. Nevertheless, it is possible that cultural norms have made it ‘more appropriate’ for men to speak to a male researcher. However, this statement cannot be confirmed, as no direct comments were made or no refusing behaviour could be observed. To navigate the risk of putting participants in a perceived inappropriate interview situation, participants were able to select a convenient place for them to meet. Several participants chose to conduct the interview in community centres or other public places, rather than at their home. However, this was not related to any specific gender. For the second interview, some participants that I had previously met at public places chose to be interviewed in their home.
Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge the gender imbalance of the study. Despite the role of gender on experiences of community not being specifically addressed, it seems likely that this, alongside other factors like age, does have an influence. Therefore, this represents is a limitation of the methodological approach.
Being identifiable as a migrant with an accent from an apparently ‘Caucasian’ background does relate to the project in this particular field. As stated in some interviews, racism in regard to the perceived ‘colour’ of a person is an issue in the Philippines and India, and participants have experienced racism in Australia as well. This kind of experience is something that I have not been faced with personally. Therefore, I cannot fully apprehend the discriminatory situations that some participants have experienced. Also, as I have neither lived nor grown up in India or the Philippines, some participants found it difficult to explain cultural traits or practices. However, this led other participants to explain social practices in more detail from a more objective perspective. Yet, my growing up in another country and having an accent enabled discussions on Australian society as I was regarded as a migrant as well. Hence, I could relate to common experiences as a migrant settling in a different social environment.
40