Need quizzes nd literature review

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Social Inclusion of Deaf with Hearing Congregants within a Ministerial Setting

Sample Student

Liberty University

Language (ASL) and Religion

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS1]: As you review this sample student paper, please keep in mind that there are some flaws in this paper (as with any piece of writing). However, it is one of the best INDS 400 research proposals received to date, so it is an excellent reference point.

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS2]: Also, remember that what you are looking at is an example of the overall research proposal, not just the literature review. If you are working on your literature review, refer to the portion marked “literature review” and remember that within that literature review portion, there is a unique introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. The first paragraph is the introduction for the proposal as a whole, which is different from the kind of introduction you should write for the literature review itself. Also remember that while this research proposal has an abstract, you do not need one for the literature review.

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Abstract

Culture can influence how people interact and the level of inclusion of different cultures in a

particular setting. While numerous studies have been conducted examining deaf studies and deaf

culture, there is a curious lack of research that has specifically considered the level of inclusion

of deaf people in evangelical hearing churches. This research proposal includes an

interdisciplinary including a literature review that examines a handful of studies on interactions

among deaf and hearing populations to consider challenges of hearing and deaf integration.

Examining these diverse perspectives, including Catholic ministry, disability ministry and deaf

culture, provides a fresh interdisciplinary perspective to approach the challenges of deaf

inclusion in ministerial settings. It was found through this literature review that a gap in scholarly

research exists in this area. As further research would be necessary to address this gap, the goal

of this research proposal is to conduct a qualitative study for further research by petitioning deaf

perspective through online interviews utilizing the social media platform of Facebook. Although

a low budget would be necessary, the implications of this research would provide a platform to

open community conversation to address challenges and provide ideas on integration of deaf and

hearing congregants in evangelical hearing churches. Examining deaf perspectives may provide

additional information for fellowship, growth and exposure to the Gospel for deaf congregants in

these settings. The purpose of this qualitative study on social inclusion of deaf people is to

discover experiences, perspective and ideas of deaf visitors and attendees in an evangelical

hearing church in a northeastern state of the United States in order to explore issues, raise

awareness and improve practices within the church for inclusion of the local deaf population.

Keywords: deaf studies, ministry, church,

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS3]: Notice how the abstract gives a brief overview of the elements of the research proposal without arguing or getting ahead of itself by predicting results.

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Social Inclusion of Deaf with Hearing Congregants within a Ministerial Setting

In an age when minority groups are finding much societal integration, social integration

and inclusion of deaf and hearing congregants within the context of evangelical ministerial

settings creates a unique challenge for ministry leadership who seek to provide opportunities for

inclusion of deaf with hearing congregants for fellowship and spiritual growth in local

communities. The purpose of this study in examining existing research from diverse perspectives

through an interdisciplinary approach was to identify the gap in scholarship regarding deaf

inclusion in evangelical hearing churches. A handful of studies have examined interactions

among deaf and hearing populations from a number of perspectives, which prove beneficial

when examining the subject through Deaf Studies and Ministry lenses. The goal of this research

is to propose further study in order to address the gap in research through opening the

community conversation to deaf perspective. In consideration of the diverse perspectives

examined, including mainstreamed deaf and hearing college students, deaf inclusion in Catholic

ministry and ministry to teens with disabilities, an opportunity to approach the subject from an

interdisciplinary vantage point to address this gap in scholarship exists and reveals the need for

further study regarding inclusion of deaf in ministerial settings in evangelical hearing churches

and initiate a community conversation.

Literature Review

Culturally deaf people in the United States define themselves by their shared experiences

and language as a cultural and linguistic minority group. However, many in the hearing

community perceive people who are deaf as disabled and see what they cannot do over what they

can do in spite of not having the ability to hear. These differing perspectives impact inclusion of

deaf people in ministerial settings. Portolano (2015) examined one such setting in a study

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS4]: This thesis statement is a little long, but notice how it establishes the topic, the research question, and the gap all while proposing future research? Remember that this is a research proposal, so your thesis should propose research.

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS5]: Notice how there is an introduction before the literature review? When you write your literature review, only write the literature review’s individual introduction (modeled just below here). Wait to write the overall introduction to your research proposal in the research proposal assignment in a later week.

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conducted on the history of deaf Catholics from 1949 to 1977, noting the struggle for inclusion

in parish life. This study found a robust field of scholarship in America in deaf studies while

noting there still exists a curious lack of studies on the experience of deaf Catholics in the United

States and few studies acknowledging deaf Catholics as a minority group (Portolano, 2015). The

study found differing perspectives in the deaf Catholic community where some saw deafness as a

disability that needed intervention and others viewed it as a cultural and linguistic minority

group, noting that while some progress has been made, isolation and inequality among the

hearing continued to present closed doors for the deaf (Portolano, 2015). Recognizing deafness

as a cultural and linguistic minority while actively seeking that deaf perspective be added to the

conversation may provide insight toward ministerial inclusion and integration in hearing

congregations for this people group.

Another interdisciplinary perspective to be considered is one of ministry with people with

disabilities. While deaf people do not view themselves as disabled, insight can be gained in

reviewing research conducted around this type of ministry. Jacober (2007) studied experiences of

families of teens with disabilities with church ministries with the purpose of raising awareness

and interest in ministry for this group. In this study, Jacober (2007) administered interviews

across nine states between 2004 and 2006 with the parent or parents of 17 families with an

adolescent with a disability. The results indicated common themes including feeling ignored,

being overlooked and feeling that people made no attempt to engage the persons with disabilities

(Jacober, 2007). While the need for integration is evident for people with disabilities, including

and raising awareness of deaf perspective through interviews can bring a fresh perspective in

considering inclusion of the deaf in ministerial settings.

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Another perspective considered in the nature of deaf and hearing interaction is found in

research concerning deaf and hearing student populations mainstreamed together in colleges.

One such study by Foster and DeCaro (1991) examined social interaction levels and

communication barriers between deaf and hearing students living on mainstreamed dorm floors

at the Rochester Institute of Technology in which the goal was to promote interaction between

deaf and hearing college students. They found that deaf students were more likely than hearing

students to focus on the opportunity of interacting with their hearing counterparts in choosing to

live in the mainstreamed setting, whereas the hearing students focused on the dorm’s physical

benefits for determining the choice (Foster & DeCaro, 1991).

Through interviews with students, they also found that students noted that an attempt to

communicate drew people together and intentional persistent attempts resulted in mutual respect

(Foster & DeCaro, 1991). They found that hearing student perceptions on deafness were seldom

based on experience with deaf people and many had no experience with deaf people, while deaf

students brought varied experience with the hearing world with them (Foster & DeCaro, 1991).

They found that fear was a common factor in which primarily hearing students had a fear of the

unfamiliar and unpredictable nature of relating to deaf students (Foster & DeCaro, 1991).

Considering this perspective and the similar goal of promoting interaction between deaf and

hearing in evangelical church settings can shed light on perceptions of deaf and hearing church

congregants.

Additionally, deaf students noted the snobbery of the hearing students and noted their

unfriendliness and refusal to strive for communication (Foster & DeCaro, 1991). Both

populations experienced embarrassment and discomfort; however Foster & DeCaro (1991) found

that most concluded that deaf and hearing could live side by side without much difficulty. Deaf

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students also noted that respect from the deaf were given to the hearing for attempts to learn sign

language and Deaf culture (Foster & DeCaro, 1991). Another study by Miller (2010) examined

the epistemological perspectives of deaf and hearing perspectives in their understanding of deaf

people, their language of ASL, their culture and views of the hearing world’s treatment of deaf

people. Examining how deaf and hearing interact and perceive one another contributes fresh

perspective to deaf inclusion in the ministerial setting of the hearing church and demonstrates the

need for further research in the deaf perspective in these settings.

Another study by Carter, Bumble, Griffin and Curcio (2017) was conducted to investigate

how congregation members perceived how to foster a sense of inclusion and support among

people in the congregation who had teenagers with disabilities. In this study, Carter et al. (2017)

used “communication conversation” events in two locations in a southeastern state in the United

States, analyzing over 1,000 ideas generated by 175 participants. They found that community

dialogue revealed recommendations including family supports, hospitality initiatives, awareness

efforts and intentional reflection and teaming within ministerial leadership as pertaining to

presenting needs (Carter et al., 2017). They also found congregants had a number of ideas for

supporting the involvement of teenagers with disabilities including worship services, religious

education, small groups and other inclusive congregational activities (Carter et al., 2017). These

findings from community conversations regarding populations of people with disabilities

highlight possibilities for community dialogue including deaf perspective regarding deaf

integration and inclusion in ministerial settings of hearing churches.

The purpose of this literature review was to consider diverse perspectives including

mainstreamed deaf and hearing college students, deaf inclusion in Catholic ministry and ministry

to teens with disabilities with an interdisciplinary approach. In studying these varied

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perspectives, it becomes significant to note the gap in scholarship pertaining to the study of

inclusion and integration of deaf people in ministerial settings in evangelical hearing churches.

Much scholarship exists in the area of deaf studies including deaf culture and mainstreaming

deaf in hearing educational settings, but there remains a lack of interdisciplinary perspective of

the topic of inclusion and integration of the deaf in the evangelical ministry setting. While

scholarship mentions ministry with teens with disabilities and Catholic ministry with the deaf, it

is curiously silent regarding this issue.

Methodology

Twenty deaf people who have visited and/or attended an evangelical church of 1,000

congregants in the northeastern United States will be interviewed utilizing a specific list of

questions through a private Facebook platform (Jacober, 2007). Questions regarding how to

foster a sense of inclusion and support, recommendations for awareness efforts and ideas for

involvement will be asked (Carter et al., 2017). Individual deaf people who have visited or

attended the church will be sent a private Facebook invitation to participate and offered an

incentive gift certificate to a local restaurant in order to increase response rate. Permission from

the individual interviewees will be attained. The online platform was chosen for the comfort of

the interviewees to use their first language ASL for responses as many deaf people regularly use

Facebook to discuss issues and are familiar and comfortable with this platform. As ASL is a

visual language and facial expressions and gestures are important, the video recording will

capture the content for later viewing with the added benefit of alleviating the distraction of the

interviewer’s presence.

Each of the recorded interview responses will subsequently be interpreted by an ASL

interpreter and transcribed for the researcher for further study. If there is a participant response to

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS6]: Notice how she calls attention to the research gap.

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a particular question that is different from the responses of other participants, a follow-up in-

person interview will be requested of that participant to allow an opportunity for more

understanding of the response. An ASL interpreter would be present for follow-up face-to-face

interviews. The resulting qualitative data from all interview responses and follow-up interviews

will be analyzed for patterns and trends. Although in a small sample of twenty participants,

drawing of statistical conclusions will not be possible, a coding process will be used to measure

common responses and patterns. This coding will thus be used to create a presentation table to

display common responses for analysis by the researcher and presentation to churches.

Rationale

Research in the local perspectives and ideas from a deaf cultural perspective is important

to study because findings will impact deaf inclusion in the local evangelical church setting. The

purpose of this qualitative study in a northeastern state in the United States is to discover the

experiences of the deaf in a hearing church setting and opportunities for their integration within

the church (Jacober, 2007). The main objective hoped to be accomplished in this study is to

determine specific ideas from a deaf cultural perspective regarding deaf inclusion in the hearing

evangelical church setting, bringing more understanding to the hearing community regarding

deaf culture and recognizing deaf input into the conversation of integration. This study aims to

address the difference in the deaf cultural perspective with the goal of integrating deaf

congregants in the hearing ministerial setting and striving toward social inclusion, while

discovering the value deaf people add to the community of believers (Kyle, 1988). By giving the

deaf a voice in the conversation, the local deaf have the opportunity to become part of the

community of believers and contribute a unique value to that community (Kyle, 1988). The goal

is to foster meaningful input of deaf perspective that leads to inclusion of deaf congregants in the

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS7]: A really good model for a simple methodology follows this pattern:

1.Explain who/what your sample population is 2.Explain your intervention/analysis/independent variable 3.Explain how you will collect data 4.Explain how you will analyze the data 5.Explain what a significant result will look like by comparing it to normal or your base (i.e. “one result will be higher than another”)

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evangelical hearing church setting (Kyle, 1988). Seeking to add cultural deaf perspective to the

conversation can promote deaf-hearing integration and inclusion with the goal of uncovering the

value and unique contributions deaf individuals have to add to the community of believers (Kyle,

1988).

Findings will be provided to the church leadership teams of northeastern churches in the

United States that have attempted to provide sign language interpreters for deaf congregants.

Results of analysis of interviews will be presented to church leadership teams with the intention

to understand the perspective of the deaf community and to help identify opportunities and ideas

for inclusion. This study seeks to explore issues and raise awareness to improve practices within

the church for inclusion of the deaf population in order to provide opportunities for fellowship,

growth and access to the Gospel (Jacober, 2007). While much scholarship exists regarding deaf

studies and deaf culture, there is a notable lack of research regarding deaf culture from an

evangelical ministerial perspective. As church leadership teams in northeastern churches seek to

include and minister to deaf congregants, ample opportunity exists to reach and foster inclusion

of this marginalized minority group in local evangelical Christian ministries.

Conclusion

Examining diverse perspectives in Deaf Studies and Ministry in the literature review

revealed a gap in scholarship regarding the social inclusion of deaf people in evangelical church

settings and presented an opportunity to approach the subject from an interdisciplinary vantage

point while revealing a need for further study. Cultural deaf perspective in the literature review

revealed varied perspectives of the definition of deaf culture as some view deafness as a

disability and some view it as a cultural and linguistic minority. Differing perspectives of deaf

and hearing congregants of evangelical hearing churches presents an opportunity for more

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS8]: In your rationale, avoid assuming the result of your study or arguing for one result. Instead, focus on explaining why asking the question is important (why the gap should be filled) regardless of what the answer will be.

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understanding through community conversation that will foster social inclusion and integration

of deaf congregants. The goal of this research proposal is to add deaf perspective, experiences

and ideas to the community conversation to raise awareness and fresh perspective. Determining

specific ideas from a deaf cultural perspective regarding deaf inclusion in the hearing evangelical

church setting can bring more understanding to the hearing community while including deaf

contribution in the community conversation. Understanding deaf cultural perspective on issues of

inclusion in local churches will allow leadership of hearing churches to more readily assess the

convergence of deaf and hearing congregants and more successfully approach challenges

associated with including this minority group in ministerial settings.

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS9]: In your conclusion, summarize the elements of your proposal and explain again why this question is important to ask keeping in mind that your audience is scholars. So filling the gap (as long as it’s an important gap) is really important to them.

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References

An Ecological Model of Social Interaction between Deaf and Hearing Students within a

Postsecondary Educational Setting. (1991). Disability, Handicap & Society, 6(3), 181-

201.

Antia, S. D., & Kreimeyer, K. H. (1996). Social interaction and acceptance of deaf or hard-of-

hearing children and their peers: A comparison of social-skills and familiarity-based

interventions. Volta Review, 98(4), 157-80.

Carter, E., Bumble, J., Griffin, B., & Curcio, M. (2017). Community Conversations on Faith and

Disability: Identifying New Practices, Postures, and Partners for Congregations. Pastoral

Psychology, 66(5), 575-594.

Jacober, A. E. (2007). Ostensibly Welcome: Exploratory Research on the Youth Ministry

Experiences of Families of Teenagers with Disabilities. Journal Of Youth Ministry, 6(1),

67-92.

Kersting, S. A. (1997). Balancing Between Deaf and Hearing Worlds: Reflections of

Mainstreamed College Students on Relationships and Social Interaction. Journal Of Deaf

Studies & Deaf Education, 2(4), 252-263.

Kyle, J. G., & Pullen, G. (1988). Cultures in Contact: deaf and hearing people. Disability,

Handicap & Society, 3(1), 49-61.

Miller, M. S. (2010). Epistemology and People Who Are Deaf: Deaf Worldviews, Views of the

Deaf World, or My Parents Are Hearing. American Annals Of The Deaf, 154(5), 479-485.

Portolano, M. (2015). "Shun not the struggle": The Language and Culture of Deaf Catholics in

the U.S., 1949-1977. U.S. Catholic Historian, 33(3), 99-124.

Commented [SCJ(AS&AS10]: Note that there are some issues with the references formatting in this student paper, but the formatting of the second one has been improved to model what a journal article reference should look like.