What we did
The consultation process and information about how we analysed the responses are detailed below.
The consultation process
To publicise the consultation we circulated a few thousand postcards, flyers, posters, and frisbees to schools (both deaf and mainstreams with hearing impaired units), to deaf organisations, NDCS members and audiologists. Audiologists were especially important in reaching those children and young people with mild, unilateral or temporary hearing loss. Adverts were placed in local newspapers and the magazines of the BAA (British Audiology Association), BSA (British Society of Audiologists) and BATOD (British Association for Teachers of the Deaf). Yourlocalcinema.com, which emails subtitled cinema listings to 62,000 members across the UK, agreed to include a paragraph about the consultation, with a link to the Change Your World website in its weekly mailing. Links were also placed on websites representing the Children’s Commissioner for each of the devolved countries and England.
Focus groups were held across the UK at various schools, youth clubs, at holidays such as the IUK Camp, and at events organised by NDCS and other deaf organisations, such as DELTA and The Ear Foundation. The NDCS Listening Bus visited several schools and this enabled children and young people to participate in the consultation in a fun environment. These events gave those without access to the internet a chance to take part and also gave the children an opportunity to discuss their thoughts along with their peers with good facilitators. The Change Your World website enabled the consultation to be completed online. Questions on this website were also available in sign language.
Questions focused on the following:
- Demographics and background variables such as levels of deafness, educational setting, audiological equipment, and communication approaches.
- What is known about NDCS, and what is wanted from NDCS?
- What type of information, advice and guidance is required (if any).
- The challenges of being deaf (if any).
- The future and NDCS.
Parents and professionals also had the opportunity to take part and answer questions either online or via a postal questionnaire.
TopAnalysis
We received the data in both quantitative and qualitative ways. This is known as Data Triangulation, where both types of data can be used to complement or compare with one another. We were able to examine numerical findings and see if any written comments gave further insight to our findings. We employed the help of two professional statisticians to look at the data using analysis software: SPSS for quantitative data and NVIVO for qualitative data. Two people coded the qualitative data to ensure that coding was reliable and valid.
These findings are then reported either quantitatively or qualitatively with some quotes given verbatim. When given quantitatively (eg through ticks), we use graphs and pie charts to illustrate the data and comments made on the key findings in that section. When given qualitatively, we also use graphs to show the range of answers given. However we would like to emphasise that qualitative information given in addition to quantitative ticks was coded by two experienced people. It is important to remember when reading small percentages within the qualitative sections that these comments were given after giving quantitative responses. We also report the level of non-answers or unusable answers following qualitative pieces of data to remind ourselves how many of our respondents did not add further comments.
Finally, we report the data we received from parents and professionals, who took part and what they said in response to our questions about what they thought we should be doing with deaf children and young people.
Results
To see the results in English and BSL, click on the links below:
Also in this Section
