Operationalising Relational Ontology in Qualitative Research: Reflexive Methodological Analysis of Indigenous Environment-Engaged Inquiry

Relational ontology and decolonial methodologies have gained increasing prominence in qualitative research, yet there remains limited explanation of how these commitments are operationalised in empirical inquiry. This paper presents a reflexive methodological analysis of an Indigenous environment-engaged qualitative approach developed to investigate Indigenous environment-driven rural community development in Zimbabwe. The study addressed the question: How can relational ontology be operationalised through an Indigenous environment-engaged qualitative methodology for investigating Indigenous environment-driven rural community development? The research was conducted in two sequential but analytically interconnected phases across the ecologically contrasting rural communities of Birchenough Bridge and Honde Valley. Phase One involved collaborative inquiry with 38 purposively selected community participants through environmental walks, walking discussions, a working discussion, Indigenous knowledge-based discussions, multisensory environmental engagement, and photovoice. Community-generated photographs and videos subsequently informed Phase Two, comprising photo- and video-elicitation interviews with 23 institutional participants, to examine institutional interpretations of community environmental knowledge. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, while reflexive methodological analysis treated the research process itself as the object of inquiry. Four methodological insights emerged: (1) ecological conditions materially shaped the conduct of inquiry; (2) the Munyai model operationalised relationally mediated community entry; (3) working discussion extended participant observation by positioning co-doing as a site of knowledge generation; and (4) participant-led ngano functioned as epistemological interventions that redirected interpretation. Rather than proposing an entirely new methodology, the study demonstrates how established Indigenous, participatory, and visual methods can be reflexively integrated and adapted to operationalise relational ontology within qualitative research. The paper contributes a contextually grounded methodological framework for researchers undertaking Indigenous, environmental, and decolonial inquiry.