82 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
RESEARCH METHoD AnD AnALySIS
This section provides further background on the research process, starting with the
recruitment of participants and the generation of data through ethnographic in-
terviews. Apart from grounded analysis, a cross-cultural framework was exploited to
analyze tensions between culturally situated constructions of deaf identity that are
experienced by international deaf people in their empowerment.
My decision to conduct an exploratory qualitative case study (Stebbins, 2001)
was motivated by the lack of systematic empirical scrutiny on this issue; for example,
I could not find any previous research with international deaf people at Gallaudet
University on this topic. For my study, the participants were recruited through a
flyer that was posted at Gal laudet University. The office of International Programs
and Services also dis seminated the flyer via email to all international students at
Gallaudet. To ensure diversity in the participant groups, additional participants
were recruited through purposive sampling (Stebbins, 2001), making up a group
of 25 international deaf people from 18 different countries in Europe,^7 Canada
and 18 different countries in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. The
recruitment was open to all international deaf people at Gal laudet University who
had experienced a turning point in their lives when coming into contact with
deaf cultural rhetoric; all research participants identified themselves as leaders or
role models in some ways and circumstances. The group was diverse in gender,
age, race, class, and linguistic and educational backgrounds and included peo-
ple both with and without deaf parents and/or siblings. As a deaf international
scholar at Gallaudet, I knew about and had shared some experiences with other
international deaf people (see Chapter 7). I found Ladd’s (2003) concept of a
“subaltern elite researcher” useful for reflecting upon my position in the field and
my academic background.
The data were generated between August 2005 and May 2007. In eth nographic
interviews, the participants reflected on key moments in their empowerment, iden-
tity, and agency. The interviews were conducted in ASL, videotaped, and followed
by a list of questions. This project received approval from the Gallaudet Institutional
Review Board.
Grounded analysis led to tentative generalizations and theory development
(Goodley, Lawthom, Clough, & Moore, 2004; Steb bins, 2001). I summarized my
preliminary research findings in a paper and discussed it with the participants in
individual meetings to determine whether the findings were acceptable from their
perspective. I translated some of the interviews from ASL into English; others were
translated by an interpreter and later checked by myself. The translations presented- Due to length constraints, in this chapter I predominantly focus upon the experiences of people
from non-Western countries. Although European and Canadian research participants have more
services at their disposal, their experiences are similar. Those who attended bilingual deaf schools were
familiar with deaf cultural rhetoric before arriving at Gallaudet; they ex perienced the large number
and diversity of deaf people and opportunities for participation and leadership as empowering. People
from the nordic countries are not represented in the sample.