Exploring the Use of Question Methods: Pictures Do Not Always Help People with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Since the early 1980’s there has been a growing body of literature looking at how best to obtain meaningful information from people with learning disabilities. Several types of response bias have been identified which contaminate reliability. These include acquiescence (a person answering ‘yes’, regardless of the question) (Sigelman et al., 1981), consistently choosing the last alternative in a multiple guess (Sigelman et al., 1983) and giving false information in response to a leading closed question (Cardone and Dent, 1996). Although the results of different studies are sometimes contradictory (Cardone, 1995) two premises are generally accepted. First, it is both necessary and desirable to seek the opinions of people with learning disabilities about issues that affect them. Second, responses should be checked for their reliability. To do this, for example, the same question could be asked using several formats and consistency compared, or interviews could be supplemented by observational data or information from third