Autism and play

Autism and play – a study of investigation and assessment of the view of teachers, other representatives of expertise (occupational therapists, psychologists) and parents on the use of play in the education and treatment of children with autism in Greece.
Project description
Format- Table of contents, 1. Introduction, 2. Literature review, 3. Research questions, 4. a. Methodology, b. Sample, c. Methods, 5. Quality issues, 6. Ethical Considerations, 7. Presentation and analysis of findings, 8. Conclusion.

Intro- Go from general to specific, why is this subject interesting to teachers? And why to other practitioners in the field? Is there a national and international debate or interest about it? Will anyone benefit from this? Is there a lot of research already? Compare the english-speaking world and Greece. Is there a gap in research? Show that subject is worth studying and of interest to a number of people.

Lit. Review- Show that there is quality of discussion and ability to synthesise (ideas, views, theories). Demonstrate there is literature about the subject and key issues. Show controversy, discussion and issues when comparing Greece to UK for example. Provide arguments and purpose for lit. review, refer to policies and legislation, cultural differences, agreements and disagreements, national or international differences to take into account? Discuss the present state of affairs (status quo) regarding subject and finish by indicating there is a gap in the research that I would like to fill with your small scale research. Be direct and explicit.

Research questions- What teachers think? What occupational therapists think? What parents think?

Methodology- Discuss approaches and methods for collecting data, refer to literature about approaches or paradigms.
4a. Use qualitative research (people’s attitudes, feelings and opinions). Demonstrate thought process and awareness on how literature shows that this is the most effective method. Justify decision. Refer to research questions and look at positives and negatives of the approach. Why is it fit for purpose?
4b. I will do the sample part
4c. What methods will you use? (Questionnaires & interviews) Define the methods and outline the positives and negatives (various form of questionnaires: structured, semi-structured, multiple choice, Likert scale, closed and open questions). I would like to use a Likert scale and a structured form in the questionnaire using some closed and open questions.
EXAMPLE – ‘closed questions will be used at the start, as Cohen and Mannion (2005) suggest that this helps to settle a participant. Then the questionnaire will move on to open questions as Bartlett and Burton (2005) relate that this will… However, the difficulty with using open questions is that they can lead to… (Dewer, 2001).
Reference lit on the subject and critical analysis of this lit (what authors say, what others say, compare & contrast)

5- Discussion of quality issues around concepts such as triangulation, validity (was the right approach & method used?), reliability (if I did it again, would I get the same results?) and generalisation (to what extent will results be the same if the study was done somewhere else? Another country or an island). Define and critically analyse these terms through the lit and then show how research will conform to these. Use a range of lit

6- Discuss general principles with reference to lit and BERA guidelines. Refer to any issues regarding specific project. Consider issues such as: participant information, informed consent, confidentialilty, withdrawal from the project, anonymity.

7- How do you propose to present the data? Which form? Why?
How will you analyse your findings: SPSS or similar, grounded theory, simple graphs, block diagrams, etc, thematic analysis? (Short section)

8- Indicate the anticipated outcomes of research: for pupils/students, for teachers or TAs, for parents, for the local authority, for government (referring to Greece) – with regard to the last two, be careful how to generalise, no extreme claims for this small-scale research.