Incorporating experimental research methods with Indigenous research methodologies

Campus Plus is pleased to announce the commencement of an Australian Government Department of Education National Industry PhD Project, which brings together The Australian National University and Aurora Education Foundation. Jarrod Hughes is the PhD candidate and will be supervised by Jesse King from Aurora and Professor Nick Biddle from ANU's Centre for Social Research Methods in the College of Arts and Social Sciences.

The aim of this project is to investigate the applicability and adaptability of quasi-experimental research methods across Indigenous policy, using the largest experimental evaluation in indigenous education yet to be undertaken. The case study is a 5-year indigenous education initiative – funded to the value of $9.9 million by the Paul Ramsay Foundation – which seeks to understand the factors that contribute to indigenous success in education. As Aurora’s Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Jarrod Hughes has been instrumental in delivering the project since prior to its inception in 2021. It is expected that learnings will contribute to robust design of future Indigenous policies and evaluations.