Accommodating Perceptions, Searching for Authenticity and Decolonising Methodology: The Case of the Australia / Papua New Guinea Secondary School Students’ Project

摘要

This paper discusses the development process of a research methodology for accommodating the exploration of recipients’ perceptions of a foreign educational project. The search for authenticity in methodology remains an issue for qualitative inquiry which has its origins in a constructive epistemology. Theoretically positioned within a postcolonial framework, the search for authenticity in methodology presented a challenge for the researcher. Specifically, this paper will focus on the research problem, issues relating to evaluation of aid programs, decolonising methodology and the search for authenticity. ududThe paper concludes with some findings of the research project, demonstrating that decolonising methodologies create new possibilities in educational research with specific reference to educational assistance and postcolonial societies. It reveals the complexities of cultural politics and its influences on foreign financial assistance. These findings include the concepts of cultural identity, ethnicity, hegemony and ambivalence which characterises the nature of Papua New Guinea education and society.