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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
Research Proposal: Project Justification
Tiffany Burgi
School of Business, Liberty University
Author Note
Tiffany R. Burgi
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tiffany R. Burgi.
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Individuals with disabilities often do not have full access to education. Even more often, they do
not have access to post-secondary education and higher. Disabled people are the largest people
group in the United States. Typically, the approach to educating disabled individuals is a one size
fits all. This approach does not help all disabled people. Research needs to be done to find better
ways to assist all people with disabilities in getting an education.
Keywords: Education, disabled, technology, educators, accessibility people group
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
Research Topic
Equal access to education for individuals with disabilities at all levels of education.
Problem and Purpose Statement
One of the largest populations in the United States is people that have a disability of some
kind. The Centers for Disease Control reports that "Up to 1 in 4 (26 percent) adults in the United
States have some type of disability" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). With
this amount of the population being disabled, they need to be not overlooked. There is not a
blanket approach to serving them all. The largest group of individuals with disabilities that are
not being served are kids in the education system. There needs to be early intervention to just
begin to help kids with disabilities in education (Gage, 2021).
The general problem to be addressed is accessible it is for individuals with disabilities to
education resulting in more accessibility to education at all levels education for individuals with
disabilities. "Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am
the Lord" (Leviticus 19:14, New Living Translation). We are called to ensure that all people are
safe and cared for, even those with disabilities. Jesus taught us to care not only for the profits,
leaders, and those above us in status but all sinners, the disabled and the poor (Merida et al.,
2015). Something as simple as the transportation to the place the education happens becomes
complex when it pertains to the transportation of individuals with disabilities (Ross et al., 2020).
If individuals with disabilities are unable to get to the education, it will ultimately cut them off
from the education opportunity. Often even when there are rules and laws in place, there is an
inconsistency in them being implemented and enforcing that the support that is protected for
individuals with disabilities is not given (Lim, 2019). The specific problem to be addressed is for
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
there to be equal access to education within the education system for individuals with disabilities
at all levels of education, resulting in equality in education for individuals with disabilities.
Importance
There is a Universal design for learning that is a guideline to eliminate issues to the
education of individuals with disabilities. It primarily looks at curriculum, surroundings and
things used to teach (Grove et al., 2018). Universal design for learning is a helpful thing, but it is
a blanket accommodation for people with disabilities. There are no two disabilities that are
exactly alike. Even within the same classification of a disability, such as a Deaf person, things
that are needed are not the same. In one study it shows that individuals with disabilities we not
learning enough to advance to a postsecondary education, and only a third of the students with
autism were moving on to postsecondary education (Stark et al., 2020). There needs to be more
support in enabling individuals with disabilities to be prepared to go on to a postsecondary
education if they want to. There are programs and agencies to help individuals with disabilities to
enter the workforce. Some of them also will help with education, but they are more focused on
having the disabled individual enter the workforce. There can be resistance and a battle to
support the individual to get an education. Before even entering a postsecondary education,
individuals with disabilities need to first graduate from high school or pass the General
Educational Development Test (GED). There is an 84% graduation rate from high school for
individuals without a disability nationally, and students with a disability on 65% of them
graduate on the traditional timeline (Kloos et al., 2022). Why is this percentage not higher? What
needs to be done to raise it?
Research
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
I think a qualitative research approach will be a good fit for this topic. This kind of
research can "empower individuals to share their stories" (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 81). Using a
qualitative research approach will be helpful when asking questions to break down any walls and
perceived power. This approach will need to be used, especially with the disabled individuals.
Disabled individuals can sometimes be easily taken advantage of, and you do not want to be
perceived to be doing that, and even more, do not do it. When talking to teachers, the qualitative
research approach will be helpful because we don't want them to think we are questioning the job
they are doing. We want them to know we are coming alongside of them to improve the
education of individuals with disabilities.
I will be looking to ask teachers of mainstream students, mixed classes of students and
teachers that teach in specialized schools for only students with a disability. I will also be
looking to ask agencies that help individuals with disabilities in a variety of ways, such as
Vocational Rehabilitation. I want to reach out to people that serve individuals in independent
living situations. There are also people that service the individuals with disabilities in an
educational setting that do not work for the educational institute that will have knowledge to
provide. The most important people to reach out to are those with disabilities. Their perspective,
I believe, could be the most helpful. There are many different perspectives to get to hopefully, in
the future, make education fully accessible for individuals with disabilities. There may be more
individuals that come to mind in my research.
Research Questions
1) What are the most common educational obstacles for individuals with disabilities at all levels?
2) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in Pre-kindergarten education?
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
3) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in elementary school education?
4) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in middle school/Jr. High education?
5) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in high school education?
6) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in college/university education?
7) What are the obstacles for individuals with disabilities in receiving a Master's education?
8) What is missing in teaching educators how to teach individuals with disabilities?
9) What technology is available that is not being utilized in education for individuals with
disabilities?
10) What technology needs to be developed for educating individuals with disabilities?
11) Why is the funding inadequate for students with disabilities?
12) What are the physical barriers to students with disabilities in education settings?
13) Is the accommodation accessible and understandable for parents and the individual?
14) Why is the approach to teaching individuals with disabilities often a one size fits all style?
15) What is the approach to ensure the students are not discriminating against the stereotypes of
individuals with disabilities?
16) What are the obstacles to transportation for educational purposes for individuals with
disabilities?
Hypothesis
My hypothesis for this will be seeing where the education system is lacking, where
caretakers are lacking, and support agencies and people are lacking in providing the best
unbiased things for individuals with disabilities. I think there will be things that can assist the
disability community in education settings that are not being utilized. I think one of the reasons
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
they are not being utilized is no knowledge of the technology and assistance devices; also, there
is no funding to acquire the technology and assistance devices. I also think there are educational
opportunities available to the disabled community that the disabled individuated is not aware of
and cannot take advantage of. It may be realized that a precent of disabled individuals do not
want an education after high school or even a primary education.
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
References
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Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018).KQualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among
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Gage, J. (2021, August 26).KDisability attorney says Florida Education fails underserved
students. UnidosUS. Retrieved February 5, 2023, from https://unidosus.org/progress-
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Grove, L., Morrison-Beedy, D., Kirby, R., & Hess, J. (2018). The birds, bees, and special needs:
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Kloos, E., Nacik, E., & Ward, C. (2022). Developing implementation capacity of a state
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
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