Researchers at the University of Queensland have completed Phase 1 of a commissioned study into Australian uniformed and civilian female personnel in peace and security operations. One hundred and two face to face interviews with Australian Defence Force, Defence public service, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (including AusAID), and Australian Federal Police personnel deployed between 1988 and 2014 were completed in early September.
This puts the project just ahead of commencement for Stage 2, a survey aiming to gain the insights of 250 people who were deployed on operations during the study period.
Interviews were led by Dr Bryn Hughes from the Institute of Social Science Research at the University of Queensland, the team delivering the project; with the lion’s share of the interviews conducted by a team of female interviewers. The interviews were carried out in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra.
The research aims to document the experiences of women during their deployments on peace and security operations, to inform Australian government policy and training, and strengthen responses to international crises.
Dr Hughes outlined the next stage of the research “We’re now working on coding the completed interview transcripts in a software called NVivo, which allows analysis and report generation coupled with what is an essentially manual coding process.”
“The interview data has informed the specific survey structure and content, placing the effectiveness of the survey in a very solid position.” Phase two will launch in the near future following the Australian Defence Human Research Ethics Committee approval on 30 September. This research project has been approved by the Australian Defence Human Research Ethics Committee with Protocol Number 808-15.
