HE KANOHI KITEA - CONDUCTING AND EVALUATING EDUCATIONAL-RESEARCH

A great deal of research on Maori people conducted by non-Maori has ha d belittling or disadvantaging effects. Such research has oversimplifi ed Maori history, undervalued Maori knowledge and underestimated Maori learning processes. There is a growing consensus that research involv ing Maori knowledge and people needs to be interactive. The research p rocess should be shared with the Maori community throughout, and findi ngs should be shared with the Maori community in a way that is cultura lly appropriate. This point of view is held by a number of writers on Maori Education (e.g. Curtis, 1983; Stokes, 1985; Smith, 1991). We bel ieve that this view also presents important challenges for the way in which Universities supervise and assess bicultural research in Educati on, and for researchers to acquire a degree of cross-cultural competen ce (Banks, 1988).