[BlindResearch] Single-Subjects Research Design

[Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury (he/him)]

Hi everyone,

Separate thread for a separate topic: Single-Subjects Research Design

As faculty keep leaving my PhD program, the course offerings are getting really thin. It looks like I'll be able to take a course in single-subjects research design, so I've been reading about it. I am trying to figure out if or how such a research design will be useful. I understand that Applied Behavioral Analysis practitioners use it a lot, which is what the professor is. I also hear that the autistic community rails on ABA as ableist. I want to give this professor and this course a chance, but I also have my own goals and want to be sure that I'm getting as far along in them as possible.

I am a justice-oriented, budding researcher in blindness education, and I know that the reductionism or otherwise hyperfocusing on one person can be a part of epistemic violence. I'm feeling resistant to taking this course because I worry that such methods would not help me with the big picture liberation of the blind if I'm just focusing on one individual blind person for an entire quantitative study where I just measure the heck of out one person. It sounds very much like the assessment-heavy approach to blind rehab in what President Riccobono calls "the vision-centered approach." Maybe there's a way to make that work liberatory for the blind. On the other hand, maybe I could do studies where I measure the effectiveness of an immersion experience in the blind community, where the subject is a sighted person. I don't know.

I'm putting this out on this list because I'm asking you all to tell me if my hesitation is wrong, unfounded, or just coming from incomplete information. Maybe my hesitation is right. I'm curious what you all will say.

Thanks in advance,

Justin



Justin MH Salisbury (he/him)
Graduate Student
Department of Education
College of Education and Social Services
The University of Vermont
Email: Justin.Salisbury at UVM.edu<mailto:Justin.Salisbury at UVM.edu>
Website: https://www.uvm.edu/cess/cdci/profiles/justin-mark-hideaki-salisbury-he/him/his

"We must always take sides.  Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

Elie Weisel, Acceptance Speech, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, 1986

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