Strategic Use of Mixed Methods in Disability Studies: Possibilities and Challenges

• In Event: Roundtable Session 101
  In Roundtable Session: Practical Applications of Mixed-Methods Research

Abstract

This paper explores the tensions that challenged our work on a federally sponsored three year mixed methods research project at a private mid-western university (XU). The project aimed at improving XU’s ability to provide a quality education for disabled students. We negotiated different epistemological assumptions of qualitative and quantitative inquiry that we combined, and grappled with theoretical differences stemming from the ideological underpinnings that position the medical and social model of disability as incongruent. We argue that researchers who want to obtain federal grants and in so doing secure higher visibility before the local and national policy powers might want to consider a strategic use of mixed methods design in contributing to the well being of disabled individuals.

Authors

• Maja Miskovic, National-Louis University

• Susan L. Gabel, Chapman University