Section IV: More Information About the Study

Research Design

This study consisted of two phases. Phase I included a participant questionnaire that contained a demographic information section and a Likert Scale. AlI participants were asked to complete the questionnaire prior to Phase II of the study.

The purpose of the Likert Scale was to provide an overview of the major areas of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction among families parenting children who are deaf. Because the majority of parents tended to respond in the Strongly Agree or Agree category, overall areas of dissatisfaction were not noted. Therefore, the data collected from the participant interviews became the primary means of analysis. The personal interviews seemed to more accurately reflect the experiences of the parents and provide clear distinctions between the major areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among parents.

Phase II of the study consisted of a semi-structured interview, combined with both open- and closed-form questions used during the scheduled interviews with parents. Although a semi-structured format was used during the interviews, further exploration into areas that warranted additional investigation was allowed. In these instances, the researcher simply asked "Tell me more about ____?" or "How did that make you feel?" The use of both a pre-designed questionnaire and a semi-structured interview format allowed the research questions guiding the study to be addressed, while at the same time permitting flexibility and some latitude in asking the questions.

Questions

The study addressed the following questions during the data collection phase:

• Who were the initial contacts that provided parents with advice and information concerning educational placement options for children who are deaf?
• What were the major factors that influenced the parents' initial educational placement decision for their child?
• Did the same factors that influenced the parents' initial placement decision play a vital role during the transition period from elementary to middle school?
• As the parents reflect on their child's educational history, what resources or support systems do they consider the most valuable?
• What aspects of their child's current educational placement are parents most pleased with? Most displeased with?
• What advice do parents of middle school age children who are deaf have to offer to other parents with young children who are deaf?

The Population Sample

A brief questionnaire consisting of a demographic section and a series of rating scale statements was mailed to all participating parents prior to the interviews. Data obtained from the questionnaires and parent interviews were analyzed by the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to gain insight into the educational decision-making processes used by parents on behalf of their children.

For the purposes of this project, parents with children enrolled in middle school during the spring and fall of 1998 were chosen as the main focus of study. These families were chosen because the parents had moved beyond the initial placement decision, had several years of experience working with the Multidisciplinary Team at their children's school, and could share their experiences in handling their children's transition into early adolescence. The researcher especially sought to answer these questions:

• Had the parent's decision-making patterns shifted from elementary to middle school?
• What resources did these parents utilize when deciding on the child's educational placement for middle school?

Although both hearing parents and parents who are deaf were invited to participate in the study, the first parents to meet the criteria for participation were all hearing. (This did not allow for comparisons to be drawn between deaf and hearing parent groups.)

The families in the study also lived in "rural" and "other urban" (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau) areas of Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee. According to the Census Bureau, one of the following criteria must be met in order for a family residence to be classified as rural:

• Parents must live in a town or city with a population of 2,500 or less as recorded by the United States Census Bureau.
• Parents must live on a "rural farm" (earning $1,000 or more from agricultural product sales each year).
• Parents must live in areas with less than 1,000 people per square mile (unless the territory eliminates an enclave or closes an indentation in the boundary of an urbanized area).

The classification "other urban" includes towns with populations greater than 2,500 but excludes large urbanized areas, central cities, and urban fringe areas. A computer-generated list of places provided by the Census Bureau was used to determine whether a potential participant's address fell under either the "rural" or "other urban" classifications; for this study, the term "rural" was used to combine the two classifications.

Participating School Systems

All school systems serving students who are deaf within the targeted states were asked to send out a packet about the research project to parents. If a school agreed to assist in the research project, they were responsible for disseminating the research packets to all parents of middle-school aged children who are deaf. The packet of information contained a letter of support from the participating school system, an information sheet describing the details of the research project, a letter of informed consent, and a response card. Once the parent returned the response card indicating a desire to learn more about the study, they were contacted by telephone.

A total of 25 parents from rural areas within the targeted states (Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee) participated in the study. The interviews included families whose children were attending residential schools for the deaf or other types of public school programs for the deaf. The children's communication methods included various forms such as oral only, total communication, and some type of manual communication (ASL, Signed English or a combination). It should also be noted that several of the families had chosen cochlear implants for their children. The interviews were conducted within the parent's personal residence unless the parent preferred an alternate site. For purposes of confidentiality, only the parents and the researcher were allowed to participate in the audiotaped interviews.

Defining Deafness

At the outset of the study the definition of a person who is deaf was defined as: one whose hearing is disabled to an extent (70 dB or greater) that precludes the understanding of speech through the ear alone, with or without the use of a hearing aid (Moores, 1996). Since four of the families indicating a desire to participate in the study had chosen cochlear implants for their children, the above definition was no longer adequate. These families viewed the cochlear implant as one of the resources that they had utilized during the course of their children's education. To exclude this population, based solely on the fact that their children at some point in time may begin to understand speech through the use of the implant, would have discriminated against this particular parent group. In order to level the playing field, the author adopted the following definition: a deaf person is one whose hearing is disabled to an extent of 70 dB or greater. All parents participating in the research study provided a copy of their children's most recent audiogram or other official documentation to verify that their children had a severe to profound hearing loss.

Data Analysis

A qualitative approach to research allowed the researcher to describe in great depth the feelings and reactions of parents when their children were first diagnosed as deaf, and the experiences they faced as their children progressed from elementary into middle school. The data obtained from the personal interviews was reported in the participants' own words through audiotaped recordings and transcriptions. The text of the interviews served as the primary source for interpreting and analyzing the data. Reading and re-reading the transcripts identified thematic data by noting common "threads" emerging from individual stories.

According to Schumacher and McMillan (1993), a theme analysis describes specific and distinctive recurring qualities, characteristics, subjects of discourse, or concerns expressed (p. 508). Once these themes were recorded and coded, a timeline was formulated to trace each parent's actions during communication and educational placement decisions.

Because this study sought to better understand the "process" that parents go through as they make educational placement decisions for their children who are deaf, a qualitative, grounded-theory approach to the research was implemented. The grounded theory method is a systematic discovery of theory from data obtained in the social domain (Brown, Maxwell & Browning, 1990).

Every effort was made to remain true to the parent's experiences and to give a balanced account of their journey. In spite of attempts to acknowledge and lay aside personal bias, the researcher's own background and frame of reference may have entered into the interpretation of the parent's stories.