Alyanna Angelina M. Cabral PS 199.

1 - Research Design

2012-65902 Prof. Clarinda Berja

Revised Research Design

For the research method of the proposed study, purposive sampling will be used.
Selecting the groups of sample will be made in accordance with the research objectives. Firstly,
to evaluate the effectiveness of COMELEC Resolution 9485’s implementation in the 2013
elections, the researcher will interview a representative from the Committee on PWD Voting and
Election Officers (EOs) under COMELEC, and public school teachers who served as Board of
Election Inspectors (BEIs) last 2013 elections. This is to know about the step-by-step
implementation of every provision in Resolution 9485 during the 2013 elections. (one on one
interview)

Second, to determine the barriers faced by PWDs during the 2013 elections, public
school teachers who served as BEIs, PWDs who voted last 2013, and those who were voting
before but did not vote last 2013 will be interviewed. This is in order to know about their
experiences during past elections.

Third, to determine other barriers that influence PWDs’ electoral participation, the
researcher will interview PWD adults who were voting before but did not vote last 2013 and
those who never voted. Also, they will be asked why they chose to not participate in elections
now, and why they never participate.

Lastly, to describe how the different barriers faced by PWDs influence PWDs’ electoral
participation, the researcher will interview PWD adults who voted last 2013, those who were
voting before but did not vote last 2013, and those who never voted. They will be asked about
the reason behind their decision to participate/not participate in elections and see whether the
barriers identified played a role in those decisions.

Regarding the sampling size, the researcher is to hold a focused group discussion
comprised of 5-7 public school teachers who served as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs)
assigned in voting centers within a city/municipality. In-depth interviews will also be conducted
with 5-7 PWDs participants who are 18-80 years old.

For the key informants, the researcher will interview representatives from the
government, non-government organizations (NGOs), and the academe. On the government’s
side, a representative from the Committee on PWD Voting under COMELEC and an Election
Officer will be interviewed. On NGOs’ side, a representative from National Citizens’ Movement
for Free Elections (NAMFREL) will be interviewed. On the academe’s side, an expert on
Disability Studies will be interviewed.
 This proposed research design will be assessed in terms of credibility, dependability,
confirmability, and transferability. Firstly, in order for qualitative data to be credible, the
researcher must have persistent observation towards the participants, data can be triangulated
with one another, interpretation of the data would be validated by the participants, and of course,
the researcher must be objective in forming interpretations.

To ensure persistent observation, the researcher plans to observe how PWDs live their
daily lives and from here, be able to determine those societal barriers faced by PWD adults not
only during elections but also in their everyday lives, which also inhibit their electoral
participation.

The research design is also credible because it is subject to triangulation. By interviewing

PWD adults who were voting before but did not vote last 2013 elections, data will reveal the
barriers faced by these PWDs that prevented their participation in the last 2013 elections. The
existence of such barriers will be confirmed by the data that will be gathered from those PWDs
who voted last 2013 elections. This will show whether or not PWDs who voted experienced the
barriers which were the very reasons why PWDs who were voting before failed to vote last 2013
elections. Aside from that, interviewing EOs and BEIs will confirm the existence of such barriers
by revealing whether or not EOs and BEIs were able to properly implement COMELEC
Resolution 9485.

Of course, in order to ensure the credibility of the research, the researcher must be
objective in interpreting the data that he/she gathered. As much as possible, interpretations made
by the researcher must not be solely based from his/her personal interpretation. Instead, it must
be based on the interpretation of his/her participants. In order to check if the researcher is going
towards this aim, he/she should conduct external checks. This involves asking the participants if
the interpretation made by the researcher is the same as their interpretation.

Next to credibility, this research design will be assessed in terms of dependability, which
refers to the stability of data over time and over conditions. Since this study is based on the
theory of Social Model of Disability, this research seeks to establish that PWDs are unable to
participate as equals in society not because of their physical impairments, but because of how
society is organized. Consequently, the stance of this research is that PWDs’ full electoral
participation could not easily be achieved by merely eliminating the barriers caused by poor
implementation of policies. Instead there should be a change in the way society is organized. The
data from this research is dependable since it would be valid as long as the society excludes
PWDs.

Thirdly, the proposed study will be assessed in terms of confirmability, refers to the
objectivity or neutrality of the data. This is also determined when another researcher can do the
same research and find the same results. Again, the stance of this study is that full participation
of PWDs will be achieved not just through the full implementation of COMELEC Resolution
9485. Instead, societal barriers such as stigma and discrimination against PWDs must be
eliminated. Therefore, even if another researcher conducts the same study in a place where there
is an adequate number of established APPs, and finds that there are many PWDs who are
actively voting in that area, the researcher would still find cases of PWDs who do not participate
any more or not participating at all in the electoral process because social exclusion of PWDs
still exists.

Lastly, the proposed research design will be assessed in terms of transferability, which
refers to the extent to which the findings from the data can be transferred to other settings or
groups. The findings that will be generated through this design could also be applied to other
groups experiencing social exclusion. An example of such groups are the Indigenous People
(IPs). Like PWD voters, IP voters also experience barriers experienced by PWDs towards
electoral participation.

Of course, in conducting research, ethical considerations are important so as to ensure

that the no rights will be harmed. First of all, the researcher would ask for the consent of
potential participants. Potential participants will also be briefed by the researcher about what the
research is about so that know what they are about to participate in. Aside from that, in order to
protect the privacy of participants, the researcher would ask whether it is okay for the
participants if their identity would be disclosed to the public. Regarding the confidentiality of the
information that participants will provide, the researcher would also ask the participants whether
to what extent of the data they shared could be published in paper. When the researcher has
finally came up with a draft of his/her research, he/she would go back to his/her participants and
present the draft to them in order to check whether they have no objections to how their identity
or the data they shared has been written on paper. Lastly, since the proposed research primarily
involves PWDs, the researcher should be more careful regarding how he/she interacts with PWD
participants so as to be sensitive towards their feelings.