Reflections on Validity and Epistemology in a Study of Working Relations between Deaf and Hearing Professionals

Abstract

In this article, a research study that examined the working relationships between Deaf and hearing professionals in health and educational services in the United Kingdom is addressed. These service providers worked in bilingual organizations where both British Sign Language and English were used and in which Deaf people’s identity as a cultural-linguistic minority was accepted. The focus of this article is on issues of validity and epistemology that arose for the Deaf and hearing research team in the course of this study. In particular, it examines the influence of identity attributions on the research process for researchers operating within a context of historical oppression, minority language use and legitimization of research knowledge, and challenges to the interpretative analysis used in the study that arose from the dynamics of majority-minority power relations in the wider social world.