Social Constructions of Deafness: Examining Deaf Languacultures in Education

Appendix A

226 A P P E N D I X A METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATIONS This appendix discusses various methodological orientations for the gathering of original data in two schools for the deaf. The comparative method and grounded theory were selected as strategic tools for this analysis “because people who write about methodology often forget it is a matter of strategy” (Homans, 1949, p. 330; see also Denzin & Giardina, 2009). The purpose of the grounded theory, in the book, is not to test, confirm, or disconfirm existing theories, but rather to generate and uncover various levels of analyses and degrees of abstraction as a systematic investigation (Lauderdale, McLaughlin, & Oliverio, 1990) to provide an understanding of how these social control processes contribute to constructing deaf students as normal or deviant. These levels of analyses and degrees of abstraction via grounded theory provide various “lenses” of identifying data to be transformed into analytical information that may not have been possible previously without the interconnectedness of these levels and degrees. The intent of the grounded theory is to identify as much data as artifacts embedded in socially articulated discourses on the map so that I, as a researcher, am able to carefully select certain knowledge as emerging issues for analysis (Goodwin, 2002, p. 305; Denzin & Giardina, 2009, p. 29). This method provides the flexibility for “collecting and analyzing data that can help . . . conduct efficient fieldwork and create astute analysis” (Charmaz & Mitchell, 2001, p. 160). Thus, grounded theory and the comparative method were incorporated as strategic forms of methodological orientations to build and guide theoretical frameworks. The comparative method is used as a way to uncover similarities and differences between two deaf kindergartens; specifically, the classroom, students, and teachers as conceptual frameworks. These conceptual frameworks would guide theoretical ideas, including the diverse pedagogies and ideologies METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATIONS 227 surrounding deafness and education. Grounded theory is used as a strategy to gather original data from these two schools to build into the three themes—pedagogy of language, culture in the classroom, and teacher knowledge. The data collected include classroom observations, teacher interviews , and examination of student social interactions. The data were examined using videotaping, memo-making, note taking, observations , and interviews. The preliminary data then were transformed into thematic coding, often called axial coding, which relates codes to each other. Some of the information examined by means of thematic and axial coding includes the table/desk arrangements, the communication methods used, the symbolic interactions through communication, the use of technology, learning facilitation, and opinions on educational policies. Thematic and axial coding builds on conceptually integrated categories such as the physical ecology of the classroom, the complexities of culture, the types of performativity , the materiality applied, the communication used, the types of resistance, the use of technology, the teacher/student biographies, the knowledge facilitation, and the perception of effective instruction included in the classroom. Through dynamic comparisons of these concepts, some theoretical ideas connected these schools as social control institutions through which to examine the different constructions of deafness—that is, a “tale” of two classrooms. The result is detailed in Chapter 4. These results build on theoretical themes and are examined fully in Chapter 5 as parts of the dynamic comparative analyses between the two classrooms, students, and teachers within the two deaf schools. This comparative framework then builds on elements of a grounded theory as a type of analysis for the study of deafness and deaf education . Figure A.1 provides a heuristic way to visualize the structure of the chapter. OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATIONS It is crucial to select the types of methodological orientations and theoretical ideas that will provide the most meaningful data possible and, more important, will allow a search for theoretical 228 APPENDIX A ideas when discussing normalcy and deviance as constructions. This study involves exploratory research, so the research considers the comparative method for comparing two phenomena and grounded theory to build and guide theoretical frameworks for this study because a grounded theory emphasis on the comparative method . . . leads to (1) compare data from the beginning of the research, (2) compare data with emerging categories, and (3) demonstrate relations between concepts and categories. (Charmaz & Mitchell, 2001, p. 161). A brief overview of each of the two orientations is necessary to understand their potential contribution toward the research here. Comparative Method/ Grounded Theory ASL School Oral School The Classrooms The Students The Teachers FIGURE A.1. Framework...