Crossing Cultural Boundaries in Research: Critical Reflection From a PhD Journey Working With Families From Refugee Backgrounds

Children and families from refugee backgrounds are underrepresented in many areas of research and when included, are often discussed in a way that focuses on deficits. To address both the underrepresentation and the positioning of people from refugee backgrounds, it is the responsibility of researchers to identify and alleviate barriers in both the design and implementation of research projects. There is significant risk of power disparity between researcher and participants in research conducted with marginalised groups, particularly when the researcher is not a member of the group. This raises important ethical and methodological questions about who should conduct such research and the best approach to doing so. Between November 2023 and April 2024, our research navigated these considerations in a series of case studies with children and families from refugee backgrounds transitioning into their first year of full-time school in Australia. This paper does not discuss the findings from these case studies but provides critical reflections on their design and implementation. We reflect on the question of positionality, discuss strengths and weaknesses in the research design, and unpack both expected and unexpected barriers experienced throughout the process. From these reflections, in this paper we provide recommendations for future research conducted across language and cultural divides.