ERIC Number: EJ1268464
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0885-6257
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Available Date: N/A
The 'Collaborative Personal Statement': A More Inclusive Method of Data-Gathering than Audio Recording Interviews with Vulnerable People
European Journal of Special Needs Education, v35 n4 p466-481 2020
Inclusive research with people with learning disabilities often involves audio-recording interviews. However, although barely acknowledged in the literature, participants may not understand that every word recorded will be scrutinised forensically, from which possibly erroneous conclusions may be drawn. This paper describes an alternative method: the 'Collaborative Personal Statement' (CPS), which eschews the standard practice of making data gathering an unobtrusive, hidden audio-recording exercise in favour of dynamic interactive note-taking, in which participants' notes are read back to them, to be clarified, edited and augmented as part of interview sessions. The resulting narrative is also reviewed and finalised to produce the CPS. The paper argues that this obviates problems around, in particular, member checking, as participants are not burdened days later with the onerous task of examining and amending lengthy verbatim transcripts, often replete with various unflattering disfluencies. Also, the constant refining and clarification entailed in producing the CPS helps enable researchers to better explore, understand and analyse participant perspectives and meanings. To put the method into a research perspective, a case study of its use is outlined -- the creation of a 'living electronic archive' relating the use and impact of mobile technology on the lives of people with learning disabilities.
Descriptors: Participatory Research, Inclusion, Learning Disabilities, Data Collection, Notetaking, Feedback (Response), Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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