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Chapter two: Methodology
The planned research
2.1 Data were collected from a quota sample of 80 Deaf
people in five centres: Glasgow (30), Edinburgh (21),
Aberdeen (15), Kirkcaldy (7) and Inverness (7). These
locations were chosen to represent the main centres of
population and to give a spread of Deaf people living in
urban and rural areas. The larger numbers in Glasgow
reflect the fact that there are two communities which have
their origins in the Catholic and non-Catholic schools in
the city. This sample figure (80), while numerically small,
represents over 2% of the Deaf community - if this figure
were applied to the hearing community in Scotland, the
study would have interviewed 130,000 people. In addition,
interviews were carried out with all available Deaf people
in Lerwick (5) and in Stornoway (4). The samples were
constructed to take into account age, gender, employment
characteristics, ethnic group and location.
2.2 Two methods were used:
- individual semi-structured interviews
- focus group discussions, reflecting on the findings
from the individual interviews and involving the same
participants. A total of 45 participants returned to
take part in 8 focus groups in each of the
centres.
2.3 These methods were chosen in order to provide rich
qualitative data on Deaf experiences in access to services.
A description of the Deaf people who took part is provided
in
Appendix 4.
Procedure
2.4 Initial contact with Deaf people was made personally
by the Deaf researcher visiting each location. This was
repeated several times in order to construct the sample.
The purpose of the study was explained in
BSL and interview dates agreed and then
confirmed by fax, email, and text message.
2.5 All interviews lasted around one hour for each
participant and were video recorded and analysed in
BSL. These interviews and group sessions
were not transcribed to English, in order to preserve the
BSL nature of the data. Where the
reporting required it, quotes from the interviews were
produced in English.
2.6 The interviews took place between November 2003 and
March 2004. The focus groups occurred in February and March
2004. Sessions were held in the Deaf clubs in each location
on the mainland. In Shetland and Lewis the interviews took
place in local centres or a convenient hotel.
Measurements
2.7 The questions used are shown in Appendix
2 &
3. Background information was
collected - age, experience of
BSL, educational level, deaf community
involvement, nature of schooling, family Deafness
background, employment, marital status. Interviews included
scenarios based on contact with services and were designed
to elicit personal judgements and experiences.
2.8 Part of the focus group sessions involved a
demonstration of prepared video recordings of
BSL information in a number of different
formats. A small Sony notebook computer was used to play
video in the different formats and a Toshiba
PDA (handheld) displayed video in a
smaller format for more mobile applications.
Analysis
2.9 All data from Deaf people was collected directly in
BSL by the research team (without
interpreters). The closed questionnaire produced a set of
quantitative indicators and their analysis is described in
Chapter 3.
2.10 This video data taken from the interviews and group
sessions form a unique record of the views and experiences
of Scottish Deaf people on access and on a way of life in
BSL. The video recordings were analysed
by Deaf researchers, to determine significant themes in the
responses. From these topics, and through discussion in the
research team, a series of overall themes were identified
and then arranged as answers to the four research
questions. These are presented in
Chapters 4 to 7.
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