Table 1.

Methodological Approaches: Purpose, Relevance, and Limitations

Approach	Purpose	Relevance	Limitations
Multiethnic data sets	Estimates and compares biopsychosocial indicators and outcomes	Social determinants and disparate outcomes can be identified and compared across groups	Comparisons complicated by small group size of Indigenous peoples and shorter life spans
			Aggregation of Indigenous groups obscures diverse needs and strengths
Indigenous data sets	Estimate health and social indicators of relevance to dominant and Indigenous populations	Allows inclusion of questions relevant to Indigenous populationsAllows estimates of prevalence, outcomes, and determinants of health and well-being	In US, IHS database includes only 40% of AIAN, and funded research focused on specific tribes, thus findings may not generalize to all AIAN
			In other countries, data collected from Indigenous groups periodically, rather than annually
Standardized tools	Compares Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples using standard tools	If measures are valid, allows comparison of domains across diverse cultural groups	Concept may be culture bound, so tools may not be valid across cultures
		If measures are not valid, may identify culture-specific ways to viewing issues	Test-taking familiarity and literacy levels may compromise accuracy of results
Qualitative methods	Describes perceptions of constructs and structures within culture and context	Especially appropriate for Indigenous groups with oral traditionsSeeks to gain Indigenous, rather than dominant, perspectives on constructs, issues, and solutions	Some researchers interpret Indigenous findings against western-oriented views and standards
			Some colonizers (mis)use qualitative findings to further control Indigenous peoples
			Data may not lend to between group comparisons.
Life-course perspectives	Considers contribution of individual and sociohistorical circumstances	Recognizes different experiences of Indigenous elders across cohorts/generations	Not everyone in a cohort may experience or interpret historical events the same way
		Can inform policy and program needs and preferences across cohorts/generations.
Participatory approaches	Engages stakeholders in defining/addressing elder issues	Addresses sensitivity to being studiedFacilitates shared leadership and ownership of the research	Power imbalance may remain between researchers and community partners.
			Not all PAR/CBPR result in improved conditions, often due to time and funding constraints
		Aims to improve conditions of those studied
Decolonizing and critical perspectives	Extends PAR with more attention to colonizing history and commitment to Indigenous self-leadership of research	Emerges from Indigenous scholarshipRecognizes Indigenous peoples’ history of oppression in today’s disparities.Allows emergence of new methodologies and approaches to research	Continued work needed to articulate best protocols for use with specific Indigenous groups
			Few universities teach Indigenous and critical methodsFew Indigenous researchers

Notes: PAR = participatory action research; CBPR = community-based participatory research.