AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

axial coding of Corbin and Strauss (Gibbs, 2010) and the guidelines of Charmaz
(2006) related to,
“seeing possibilities, establishing connections, and asking questions….the
content of theorizing cuts to the core of studied life and poses new questions
about it” (p. 135, emphasis given by Charmaz)
Respondent validation was carried out through sharing a summary of the findings via
email with some of the interviewees. Creswell and Miller (2000) and Pickl (2011)
both discuss the importance within qualitative research of seeking the views of
experienced people within the field of study who are not connected to the research
project. Within this study, feedback was sought from audiences through presentations
given at the annual UK Communication Matters AAC conference (Hynan 2011a,
2012b), with follow up articles appearing in the Communication Matters journal
(Hynan, 2011b, 2013) (Appendix J and L), and a paper presented at the 15 th biennial
International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC)
conference (Hynan, 2012a). The theory establishes a construct-focused framework for
understanding the interrelated factors that young people with physical disabilities and
complex communication needs navigate in order to achieve their desire to use the
internet and online social networks whilst outlining the perceived consequences.
The research objectives:
1. To investigate the self-reported experiences of the accessibility of the internet
and online social media for people who use AAC
2. To investigate the self-reported use of the internet and online social media by
people who use AAC
3. To explore the perceived role of the internet and online social media for selfrepresentation
4. To establish how online social media is perceived in terms of social ties for
people who use AAC
The areas of the theory that address the first two research objectives to investigate the
self-reported experiences of (1) the accessibility and (2) the use of the internet and
online social media for people who use AAC, are: the causal conditions, the
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