AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

and to explore whether the topics identified from the literature review and the
research aims were of relevance to people who use AAC.
3.4.4. Pilot investigation participant
A male adult, (aged 30+) who was a proficient user of a high-tech VOCA and
accessed a home computer and mobile phone, agreed to act as a participant for the
pilot investigation. He used direct access to his technology and had good literacy
skills although he used a software programme called Penfriend that he explained
was
“for it’s word prediction feature which speeds up my typing… [and also has]
the voice feature turned on”.
This enabled him to hear what his written material sounded like. He operated his
mobile phone with the knuckle of a finger on his right hand which limited his choice
of device as touch screen phones were not suitable and he did not access the internet
this way.
3.4.5. Pilot investigation data collection
The interview was conducted in the participant’s home and his personal assistant was
present initially and post interview for the debrief session but during the main part of
the interview she was not in the room. The interview was semi-structured following a
topic guide (Appendix A) based on the literature review to establish how he accessed
the internet and online social media, what sites he used, the role the internet and
online social media played in his life and his online relationships. The interview lasted
for two hours with a short refreshment break.
3.4.6. Pilot investigation data analysis
Braun and Clarke (2006) give an account of thematic analysis and offer a description
of some other qualitative analytical methods which are available and suggest these
methods fall broadly into two camps. In the first camp are ones that stem from an
epistemological stance such as Conversational Analysis (CA) or Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and those taking a methodological perspective
such as grounded theory, discourse analysis and narrative analysis. The second camp
75