Facilitating qualitative research interviews for respondents with intellectual disability.

Abstract

Qualitative interviews form an efficient tool when wanting to access the subjective experiences of an individual. For respondents with intellectual disability, facilitation of the interview may be necessary to help them provide rich descriptions. In this article, the authors discuss several communication techniques from counselling practice (silence and encouraging prompts, rephrasing questions; repeating, paraphrasing and summarising responses) as a means to improve the quality of the interviews. Examples to illustrate these techniques are provided. Further, possible threats to validity that may occur as a result of the facilitation are discussed, and ways to counter these threats are suggested. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Special Needs Education on 10 Dec 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08856257.2017.1413802