Running head: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology: Students with Disabilities in Higher Education and the Crusade Between

Policy and Practice

Patrick Rezek

Loyola University, Chicago

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Introduction

From the founding of Harvard University in 1636, to the development of liberal arts

education with the Yale Report in 1828, to the creation of junior/community colleges in 1901,

the higher education system in the United States has been an ever-expanding phenomenon

(Lucas, 2006). With enrollment into higher education expanding, colleges and universities had to

take a second look at the breadth and depth of the type of student they wanted in their

institutions. With this in mind, the system of higher education underwent change. Looking at

how this change has impacted the system of higher education as we know it today, the focus I

take is on the equality of access to students with disabilities. According to a research study

conducted by Wolanin and Steele in 2004, about 9 percent of all undergraduates in higher

education report having a disability, a percentage that has tripled in the last two decades; this

amounts to about 1.3 million students (Wolanin & Steele, 2004). These statistics show a

staggering need for institutions of higher education to value the importance of every student and

their access to quality education.

It was in 1973, with the introduction of the Rehabilitation Act and specifically Section

504, that the culture of higher education really began to shift. This shift in higher education

opened the door for a new group of underrepresented students, students with disabilities.

Through legislation reform, the primary objective of Section 504 within the Rehabilitation Act of

1973 was to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities by any institution

receiving or benefiting from federal funds (Ketterlin-Geller et al, 2006). While the Rehabilitation

Act of 1973 took a primary focus on aiding students with disabilities in the public sphere of

higher education, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 sought to expand on the
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aid and benefits to such students in the private sector as well as the public, regardless of federal

funding. The ADA was instrumental in that it built upon the fundamental ideals of the Civil

Rights Act of 1964 and combined with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to further create

inclusivity for students with disabilities in higher education.

Purpose of Study

The main question of my research focuses around whether accessibility for students with

disabilities (physical, emotional, mental, learning) into higher education has grown and

developed since Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and whether disability friendly

institutions in policy are truly safe spaces in practice. The main goal of my research is to break

down into two parts: first, looking at accessibility into higher education and second, looking at

accessibility to learning once in the institution. What I hope to accomplish through this research

is to show that there is more that institutions of higher education can do for students with

disabilities, and not just on the “face” but also in changing the underlying tone and attitude of the

institution and the people within it. In many cases, the barriers these individuals [students with

disabilities] reported, such as inaccessibility of buildings and lack of services or

accommodations, run contrary to both the letter and spirit of Section 504 regulations. Most

ominously, students have reported that they had encountered resistance and discrimination from

instructors and other university personnel, and stigma from faculty and students (West, 1993).

The inspiration for this research came about through a project I had done in another class on

social justice and students with disabilities, and it made me really think of the inherent privileges

that I have in my own educational experience every day- the ability to get anywhere on campus

easily, the ability to sit anywhere in the classroom and see and hear easily, and the ability to have

powerful in-depth communications and conversations with other students in the classroom.
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The major, specific research question that I have focused my research proposal around is,

are public and private colleges and universities doing enough to efficiently and effectively

provide quality education to student with disabilities? In order to answer my research question,

the data sources that will be used will be through individual surveys as well as individual

interviews. I will discuss more of the process of the survey and interview later on in the paper.

General Methodology

My research will primarily focus on using a qualitative analysis through the use of

surveys and interviews. However, I will include a number scale in my survey as well as

qualitative response options, therefore making it a mixed methods research. This will be a case

study focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of students with disabilities and how colleges and

universities have either supported or neglected their equal opportunity for educational success. I

believe that this is a proper form of methodology to use as this research is designed to trigger

readers emotionally as to the lack of support that students with disabilities in higher education

have. By analyzing their beliefs, behaviors and attitudes, it is more effective to holistically see

what and where the major issues lie. I expect that many of the students who participate in the

study will be honest with their answering of the survey and of the interview questions. As it is a

study that is designed specifically to benefit them and their educational success, it does them

further harm to not fully participate and be honest. With the fact that many previous case studies

have shown a majority of neglect in support services for students with disabilities, I can expect

that participants will not be hard to come by in terms of acquiring proper representative numbers.

As I will discuss further in the next chapter when I review many of the previous literature

on the subject, many of the case studies have specific and targeted subject matters that do not

holistically look at the comparison of private and public institutions within the United States. I
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would like to not only look at whether or not colleges and universities are effectively creating

equal opportunities for education to students with disabilities, but I want to do a cross

comparison between public and private institutions throughout the United States to see if there

are similarities or differences in the types of educational institutions.

The intended influence from this research proposal and question would be an overhaul in

our institutions of higher education- focusing on admission processes and classroom teaching

initiatives- as these are areas where the most issues lie for students with disabilities. The

influence from this research question would be a combination of political, social and practice, as

it would expand upon the ADA and maybe further elect revisions; social in the aspect that social

spaces will be more cultural affluent and open-minded; and practice in the hope that

teacher/institutions can take information from this and apply it to their classroom or institutions.

Some possible limitations may be along the timeline of this research proposal. How I

acquire my research sample size plays a major role in determining the representation of the

population and making sure that that is statistically worthy enough. Another aspect that leads

into the timeframe of the research proposal is whether or not I will have a team to assist me in

the collection of data, preparation of interview and the analysis of results.

Review of the Literature

A lot of previous research around the topic of accessibility for students with disabilities is

largely focused on accommodations provided by institutions- are students receiving adequate

time to take tests, are auditory and visual techniques being used in teaching methodology and are

there physical limitations to students acquiring education in the classroom. The difference

between my question and past research is that I am focusing on private and public institutions

and a cross comparison between them. I am investigating whether these institutions have set
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policies in place for support services for students with disabilities, whether these policies are

effectively put into practice, and the differences that are seen in policies and practice between

public and private institutions of higher education. The similarity between my research and

previous research is that it revolves around the accommodations and support services for

students with disabilities and whether institutions of higher education are doing enough to

provide equal opportunities for all students to succeed. One process I would take through this

research proposal and analysis of the data would be to define specific terms that are commonly

used and seen in literature. I would want to define the word disability and use an operational

definition that would be common knowledge and of similar understanding to all the universities

participating in the survey and interview process. This is one thing that I noticed when

conducting research was that many of the institutions looked at the word disability and had

different definitions for it which then ultimately lead to differences in policies and practices

across the board. I would also narrow and define the word institutions and claim it to be focused

on four year institutions of higher education as to not include two year junior or community

colleges; this would greatly expand my research but also would effect the outcome that I wish to

study.

Methods

I will be using mostly a qualitative research methodology but will possibly include a

mixed methodology. In my survey, I will ask participants (students with disabilities) about

specific aspects of their educational experience (i.e. support services provided to students,

accommodations within the classroom, physical space and accessibility for all students) as well

as questions targeted to their behaviors and attitudes to the policies and practices of their college

or university. This will all be qualitative based, however, I may provide a numerical system in
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the survey as to be able to analyze faster and group together responses to show a median or

mode. I want to use the qualitative more as to show the importance of student voice particularly

with this research proposal. As you could see from the literature review, the scientific aspect of

the research can get to be much and may lose focus of the outcomes desired. The research

methodology of using qualitative research is relevant to my research question as it pertains to

how effective and efficient colleges and universities are in providing equal educational

opportunities to students with disabilities. The research question focuses on whether these

institutions are doing enough for students with disabilities and by using qualitative methodology

through surveys and interviews, that really gets to the core of the problem. As described before, I

will be conducting a case study of students with disabilities. It can be considered a non-

experimental survey design as the subjects in my research (students with disabilities) aren’t

manipulated in any way and will undergo surveys and interviews in order to collect and analyze

the data.

Data Collection

The methodology that seems most appropriate for my research study is through surveys

and specific interviews. I may also conduct focus groups post-survey and interview for further

understanding development and continued questions/discussion. The benefit of me using this

intermethod mixing, using more than one method of data collection, allows for a checks and

balance system for the data and its reliability. Questionnaires (aka surveys) are good to use to

obtain information about the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values, perceptions, and

behavioral intentions of research participants. (Johnson, 2016) Using a questionnaire gets at the

heart of my research purpose, trying to investigate the attitudes and perceptions that students
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with disabilities have towards institutions of higher education in relation to the accessibility of

education as well as the focus on policy and practice.

The important aspect to the questionnaire will be to make one that is significant, efficient,

and to the point, whereas students that are part of the sample will not feel bored, uneasy, or

unwanted while taking it. The questionnaire will have to be distributed electronically to students,

unless I am able to gather students together in a single room at a designated time (which may

prove to be fairly difficult). The purpose of interviews will be used as post-survey follow ups and

will have a series of questions designed to illuminate questions of importance from the surveys.

Questions that students either answered higher on or saw as more problematic. The purpose of

the interview is to hopefully seek out more in depth and honest answers from students that might

have taken the survey willy-nilly (if results show this to be consistent).

Because the research question focuses on accessibility and attitudes towards institutions

of higher education as it relates to policy and practice of creating disability friendly institutions,

approaching students’ beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and thoughts makes for a more compelling

data group. The research could focus on an observation portion and solely look at admissions

process and compare students who report disabilities with their admission acceptance, or

investigate student class enrollment vs. location of class (physical accessibility into the

building/space). While these would be viable research options, it doesn’t target the core,

underlying issue that students with disabilities aren’t, or feel they aren’t, receiving proper

accessibility to education.

For this research proposal, interviews will be conducted for students with disabilities post

survey analysis. The purpose of using the interviews post survey is to test more of the validity of

the survey results and make sure that students who took these surveys gave as honest of answers
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as possible. It will be a targeted interview to students with disabilities focusing more on their

attitudes and behaviors about university policies and practice when it comes to the effectiveness

of the support services for its students. Possible questions that will be asked in the interview

process will be: What type of support services are currently offered to students at your

university? How publicized are the support services at the university- are they well known

practices? What type of policies does the university have in course syllabi as it relates to students

with disabilities? I would like to conduct these interviews on the university campus and in a

space that is quite accessible to all students.

Procedure

Sampling in research has a lot to do with knowing the larger population that you as a

researcher are trying to represent. The purpose of taking a sample is to really look at the specific

nature of the smaller sample and its representation of the larger population (Johnson, 2016). The

larger population that I am investigating in my research are students with one or more reported

disabilities in four-year institutions of higher education across the United States. With that in

mind, my sample will be a target of ten, four-year institutions of higher education, both public

and private, across the United States. From these ten institutions, I would sample fifty students

with reported disabilities from each institution. This would give me roughly a sample size of 500

students with reported disabilities in institutions of higher education.

My only concern moving forward with my sample size is if it is large enough to be fully

representative. One process that can be amended in my research is focusing only on public, four-

year institutions of higher education. The focus on public institutions would be due to a more

open, non-selective, admission process compared to private universities. With the non-selective

enrollment and educational experience, public universities should have more inclusive policies
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set in place for students with disabilities in academic terms as well as more physical environment

amendments. My initial sampling was to focus only on public and private four-year institutions

in Chicago, but then I realized that that wouldn’t be very representative of the larger population

if I focused on one city.

What I am most focused on in selecting my sample is that the students have one or more

disabilities- physical, mental, emotional, learning. This is because I want to focus on their

experience in their own accessibility into higher education as well as their accessibility to

learning and education. I will not be separating different disabilities and investigating how one

disability plays out against another. I am more focused on the aspect of having a reported

disability and its impact on accessibility to education. I am not so concerned in terms of the

sample characteristics of an even sample size of gender, age, sexual orientation, etc. It may be

interesting for a future research study.

Some questions that revolve around the validity of both the survey and the interview

process is how honest students will be. In some cases students may take a survey and not really

focus on the questions being asked but will complete it to get it done or reap whatever reward is

being provided. In this case study, I feel that students will be more reliable and honest as the

students being interviewed are students with disabilities who have a direct impact of their own

educational success; the more honest they are, the more likely change in the educational system

will occur and better their support. Students without disabilities are being ignored in this study

because they do not have a direct connection to subject matter and therefore may not be as

reliable.

I am unfamiliar with privacy rights in higher education, but I do not believe that I would

be able to access records of student’s names and such that have reported one or more disabilities.
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One recruitment possibility when measuring the accessibility of students with disabilities into

four-year institutions of higher education would be through the admissions process and adding a

segment that would involve a survey once a student is accepted into such institution. Another

strategy for recruitment could be through campus visits and informative student talks/sessions to

draw students into the participation. I would mostly use a random sampling through survey

research as well as selected interviews. This would require that I am able to get more than fifty

students with reported disabilities from the targeted four-year institutions. The ability to recruit

sample participants would have to be a strong faith effort at each institution. Without having the

access into personal files to know which students have reported disabilities, makes the sample

finding harder. Random sampling appears to be more representative of the larger population as to

not have biases included in the selection of the sample size (gender, age, political views, etc).

As mentioned before, the sampling strategy used in this case study will be random

sampling. This strategy proves to be the most significant for this type of case study as it helps to

eliminate bias in the selection of sample participants; everyone has an equal opportunity to be

selected for the sample. Because this case study focuses so much on the lack of voice that

students with disabilities have in higher education, I want to make sure that the sample size is

very representative of the people I am trying to give a voice to.

Data Analysis

Because this data is representative of the attitudes and behaviors of students with disabilities

and the effectiveness of support services at institutions of higher education, I would want to

report my data in journals of higher education. Filing it in these journals will provide the

outcome for the academia aspect, but I will also want to send it to the universities in which I

surveyed and interviewed students. The goal of this would be to allow the universities to see how
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their students perceive the support that is being given and how their policies and practices match

up. I would want to make this report as obtainable and accessible as possible to help bolster the

need for greater support for students with disabilities in higher education.

The goal of statistical analysis can be seen as with the intentions of determining and finding

trends that exist and may exist in the future. Since I am not focusing a great deal on quantitative

data (in survey or interview) this is not a major aspect to my research proposal. The analysis of

the data will come about from looking at the survey responses given. Responses will include

examples like: strongly agree, strongly disagree, occasionally, rarely, and sometimes. Question

sets will give students an average of 5 response options per question. Students will be able to

select one response per question with the ability to add additional comments per question. This

was this can help in the formulation of interview questions and targeted students for the

interview process. Survey question responses will all be grouped together based on the particular

response and questions will be organized into areas of policy and practice. Then responses will

be analyzed based on the policies that are provided by the university and how students perceive

those policies as well as the actual practice and application of such policies and students attitudes

toward them.

Conclusion

As I have stated before, depending on the time frame that is available to the researcher and

the size of the team that they have, the sampling size can vary. I am at a loss to determine how

many students have disabilities at universities as this number varies greatly and therefore may

hinder or alter how representative my results and findings will be. Sampling size is definitely a

priority as to have enough surveys and interviews completed and enough analysis can be done to

effectively provide valid results.

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One of the biggest challenges that I faced when writing this research proposal was that it

seemed like I had more questions moving along than I had answers. As I progressed through the

actual researching aspect, I kept finding data or information that would be of value to my topic,

but I knew that it would expand the amount of work and scope of the research questions. I felt

that maybe this specific research proposal could have been broken down into two parts- one

focusing on the accessibility of student support services to students with disabilities and the cross

comparison of support services for students with disabilities in public vs. private institutions of

higher education and investigating the policy vs practice aspect. I found myself gaining an

invested interest in this topic throughout the research portion and found myself wanting to

actually conduct this research proposal or at least investigate the subject more. I had done some

prior research on students with disabilities in higher education but not to the in-depth effect that

this proposal required. Overall, I was very thankful for this project and increasing my awareness

on students with disabilities and my investment on social justice within higher education.
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Works Cited

Getzel, Elizabeth, & Thoma, Colleen (2008). Experiences of college students with disabilities

and the importance of self-determination in higher education settings. Career

Development for Exceptional Individuals, 31(2), 77-84.

Johnson, R.B., & Christensen, L. (2016). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and

Mixed Approaches (6th ed.). CA: Sage.

Ketterlin-Geller, Leanne R., & Johnstone, Christopher (2006). Accommodations and universal

design: supporting access to assessments in higher education. Journal of Postsecondary

Education and Disability, 19(2). 163-172.

Lucas, Christopher. (2006). The American colonial and antebellum college. American higher

education: a history (pp. 104-144). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.

West, M., Kregel, J., Getzel, E. E., Zhu, M., Ispen, S. M., & Martin, E. D. (1993). Beyond
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Section 504: Satisfaction and Empowerment of Students with Disabilities in Higher

Education. The Council for Exceptional Children, 59(5), 456-467.

Wolanin, Thomas R., & Steele, Patricia E. (2004). Higher education opportunities for students

with disabilities: a primer for policymakers. The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1-

64.