Indigenous research is a decolonial inquiry grounded on relational and reciprocal principles between researcher and the Indigenous community, guided by Indigenous research methods and Indigenous ways of knowing. Indigenous research is aimed towards benefiting the Indigenous peoples and communities, a respectful exchange of knowledge, respect for the land, languages, and data and ensuring research is strength-based and beneficial to Indigenous communities.
Respecting and honouring the traditional, spiritual, cultural, and ethical protocols of Indigenous communities is a prerequisite for the researcher to understand and conceptualize the context of their research inquiry(s), emphasizing that the Indigenous individual, community, language, symbols, knowledge, and land must not be treated as merely a subject.