Using audience response systems as a mixed method research tool’

In order to determine the efficacy of the establishment of a youth-centred culturally sensitive program in a remote Australian Indigenous community, Audience Response Systems (ARS) were employed as a research data gathering tool in a mixed methods approach. Data were collected via quantitative ARS workshops and qualitative, in-depth interviews with participating youth, community members and local organisations. Data collection occurred across three workshops over eighteen months with youth from the remote Australian Indigenous community; two workshops over a twelve-month period with local organisations; and two rounds of semi-structured interviews over twelve months with remote Australian Indigenous community members, leaders, and staff from local organisations. In the workshops, the hand-held voting devices allowed participants to choose an anonymous response to multiple choice, quantitative survey questions projected onto a screen. Results were then displayed in real-time, which encouraged further qualitative discussion about the particular topic, with all responses noted. Across the range of quantitative and qualitative data, analysis was carried out through an open-ended process of thematic coding and cross-referencing. Participant voices from the workshop data and the individual interviews were combined to help understand the impact of the youth program in the remote community. This provided an overall platform to share the strengths and success factors of establishing a youth recreation program in that location, thereby creating pathways for evidence-based and community-informed improvements to Indigenous youth engagement programs.