Reflections on conducting educational research projects in Papua New Guinea

This article discusses how work on an AusAID-funded impact study of major elementary school reforms influenced the research design of a subsequent Australian Development Research Award project investigating the development of sustainable professional learning communities for primary school teachers in remote places of PNG. The authors reflect on how their different backgrounds, roles, experiences and expertise influenced the design and conduct of the projects and, in particular, how the experiences of the action research and survey methods used on the first project shaped the design of the second. The participating elementary school teachers were encouraged, through action research approaches, to develop self reflexive attitudes to their professional work, and to engage in critical reflection of their roles and practices. Accordingly, this article adopts a self-reflexive position towards the authors’ work as academics and researchers as they endeavoured to produce methodologies that are academically rigorous, contextually suitable, and epistemologically appropriate for PNG.