Moving beyond a Deficit Perspective with Qualitative Research Methods

Abstract

Four researchers argue the merits of qualitative methodology and its particular relevance to those in special education who seek to move beyond a deficit perspective. Their studies examine the experiences of a young deaf child in a hearing family, Portuguese-speaking parents of special needs students with severe disabilities, a class in basic reading-writing in an urban university, and fifth- and sixth-grade students in a literature discussion group. Unconstrained by the defined variables and decontextualized settings characteristic of much research in special education, qualitative methods allowed the authors to extend the scope of their studies beyond originally stated research questions when unanticipated findings emerged from descriptive data. In doing so, each researcher discovered unexpected strengths and abilities in her participants.