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Is It Really Clear?

Adapting Research Tools for the Needs of the Deaf Population

Sapir Academic College and Tel Aviv University, Israel

Tammie Ronen

Tel Aviv University, Israel, tamie{at}post.tau.ac.il

• Summary: The methodological challenge of adapting research tools to the needs of the study population takes on paramount importance when participants have cultural, social, cognitive, or other needs rendering commonly used questionnaires problematic. This article describes research tools' exploratory adaptation to a sample of Israeli deaf adults, during a comparative study of 101 deaf adults aged 28 to 51 years and 57 hearing adults aged 24 to 52. Levinger (2003) conducted a large study on this sample, investigating the links between adults' personal, familial, and societal variables and their ability to separate from parents and establish spousal intimacy.

• Findings: The present article is a sub-study focusing on the adaptation of the larger study's design of specific tools to examine the deaf population. It describes the tools' preparation, administration, and analysis, including examination of the various versions' compatibility and the versions' cultural and linguistic adaptation to the participants' needs. The study included five research tools containing 125 questions altogether. To minimize the biasing risks due to deaf adults' reading comprehension difficulties or misinterpretations of questions' intent, we prepared three versions for each of the tools except for the 30-item demographic questionnaire: a) the original written version in regular Hebrew, matched to participants for gender, b) a revised written version in easy language (adapted to the deaf population and gender-matched), and c) a videotaped sign language version. Taking part in preparing the various versions were deaf representatives of the deaf community and hearing translators into Israeli Sign Language.

• Applications : This article discusses methodological repercussions of these adaptations; compares the choices made by participants regarding the various adaptations offered them; and highlights the importance of familiarity with participants' characteristics and unique needs.

Key Words: adult differentiation • deaf adults • linguistic clarity • research tool adaptation • spousal intimacy

Journal of Social Work, Vol. 8, No. 4, 399-430 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1468017308094992


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