Search results for ‘Subject term:"parents with learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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Looking inside the bag of tools: creating research encounters with parents with an intellectual disability
- Author:
- MUNFORD Robyn
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 23(4), June 2008, pp.337-347.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper examines the development of fieldwork methodology in a study that investigated the parenting experiences and parent support needs of a group of parents with an intellectual disability. It considers the ways in which the original planning for the project changed as the fieldwork unfolded, requiring adaptations to methodological expectations and in the process deepening understanding of the phenomena studied and reinforcing the importance of relationships in fieldwork-based research. Three themes in particular are considered that became central to this research: research relationships; safety for participants/positioning of the researcher; suspending assumptions about impairment and disability and influences on life experiences.
Ethics and research: searching for ethical practice in research
- Authors:
- MUNFORD Robyn, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ethics and Social Welfare, 2(1), April 2008, pp.50-66.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Abingdon
This article explores the ethical questions that were central to a qualitative study of the parenting experiences of parents with an intellectual disability. The study was located in three cities in New Zealand and involved 19 parents who have an intellectual disability. It considers three aspects of the research process, all of which involve significant ethical matters that need to be addressed throughout the research process. The first concerns issues around the construction of knowledge. Here fundamental issues such as who controls knowledge and knowledge production are explored. Building on the first issue, the second focuses on the significance of relationships in research and explores the factors that contribute to effective research relationships. The final theme explores social change in research and the role of the participant and researcher in this change process. The article provides a critical reflection on research practice by foregrounding common ethical concerns and poses some of the possible responses to these concerns so that research remains authentic and protects the interests of all participants. These involve seeking clarity around research aims and processes from the participants and others who have an interest in the research and its potential outcomes.