[nabs-l] I Need Your Help for My Research Project

[zeynep sule yilmaz]

Hi Everybody,

Please find the recruitment email below for my research project. Your
help for this research would be greatly appreciated.

Dear professors,

I am writing to invite you to be a part of my pilot study regarding
your experiences as blind or visually impaired faculty at American
universities.  I am a first year PhD student in the Rehabilitation
Counseling department at the University of Arizona. As a part of my
qualitative research class, I am conducting a pilot study on the
experiences of professors with visual disabilities. My own experiences
as a blind graduate student in teaching and research prompted me to
explore this phenomenon.

The main purpose of this pilot study is to explore the experiences of
professors with visual disabilities. Using phenomenological inquiry,
this pilot study will be one of the first to investigate in-depth the
experiences of blind and visually impaired professors; thus, it will
not only aim to identify the barriers and challenges that professors
with visual disabilities experience, but also share the strategies
that professors use to successfully manage their jobs.

If you would like to be part of this study, you must:
•	Be legally blind,
•	Work as a fulltime or part-time professor at a US university or college
•	 Have at least one year of work experience as a professor.

If you agree to participate, there will be an audiotaped
semi-structured interview and it will last approximately 50 to 75
minutes. Your interview will be transcribed verbatim for data analysis
purposes. Any identifying information will be excluded after the
transcription. You will have a chance to review the transcript of your
interview, if you would like.   As a last step, I will ask you to do a
member check which allows validation of the findings after the data is
analyzed.

I am reaching out to interview professors from different universities
and different departments in order to explore a broad range of
experiences. This study will ultimately provide valuable information
and insights for future graduate students with visual disabilities who
decide to follow the same career path. In addition, it will ultimately
provide an opportunity to inform policy makers in higher education and
rehabilitation counseling fields, if common barriers and challenges
are identified.

Please find attached a permission form that explains the study in more detail.

Please contact me via either email or phone, if you would like to be a
part of this study. I understand that as professors you are very busy,
and your contribution to this study will be greatly appreciated.
Warmest regards,

Zeynep Yilmaz, MS, CRC
Email: zyilmaz at email.arizona.edu
Phone: (608) 698-5044