Quantitative Research

In line with a social ecology framework, this research project combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The main quantitative research instrument is a survey of Muslim youth attending the Sydney Eid festival in 2009, complemented with surveys of youth attending a Sydney Muslim school. The UTS research team booked a stall at the Eid festival, an annual event celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and coordinated the activities of

22 specially trained volunteers, who were Muslim male and female students at UTS. The volunteers and research team were easily identifiable in UTS T‐shirts, ready to administer the survey and to answer questions about the project. This event proved very successful in attracting a large number of responses from young Muslim Australian men and women. The survey questions are listed in Appendix B. A total of 392 survey responses were collected from both venues, with 332 responses from young Muslim Australians 15‐25years of age. We analyze the findings of the young Muslim Australian responses in this report.

Qualitative Research

A number of qualitative research instruments were employed in this research project, with fieldwork conducted in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. The qualitative research took the form of focus groups of young Muslim Australians from a wide range of cultural and linguistic heritages; focus groups with key stakeholders from Muslim communities and service providers who work with Muslim communities; in‐depth interviews of Muslim Australians and key stakeholders; and case studies where a few selected young Muslim Australians took part in repeat, in‐depth interviews.

Sydney Consultations

Two types of group consultations were conducted in the Sydney region, these being sessions with key stakeholders or service providers working with Australia’s Muslim communities, and secondly with young Muslim Australians between the ages of 15 and 25 years.

UTS ‘Voices team’ organized a Community Consultation Forum in Campsie, held on the

26 November 2009, in conjunction with five other National Action Plan researcher teams, concurrently working with Muslim Australian communities in Sydney. The consultation forum attracted services providers, professionals and Muslim Australian community leaders working with young Muslim Australians, with an additional interview conducted outside of this occasion.

Several consultations were conducted with Muslim Australian youth from different geographical regions in Sydney. These included focus groups and one to one interviews with young people from a variety of cultural and linguistic heritages, including African (Somali, Nigerian, Togo, Ethiopia), Middle Eastern (Lebanese, Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish) and South Asian (Pakistani, Afghan and Indian), as well as a small number of converts to Islam of Anglo‐Australian and other backgrounds. The focus groups were held at a range of locations, including a mosque, a university, and various community centres in Sydney’s Western suburbs. These consultations sought in depth information on the voices that influence and inspire young Muslim Australians.