Research project: Mobile Device Usage of Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) or Disabilities at Home

Please see below a request for support from a PhD student at the University of Nottingham.

” I am writing to enquire about sharing my research information with your community to invite parents/carers to participate in my doctoral research study.  I am a doctoral research student at the University of Nottingham, supervised by Dr Anne Emerson (Associate Professor, School of Education). In my research project, Mobile Device Usage of Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) or Disabilities at Home, I will explore the current use of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) in the homes of children with SEN or disabilities and parents’ perspectives, expectations, and experiences of using these devices with their children.  

I am looking for parents who have young children (under age 7) with SEN or disabilities as research participants for my PhD research. In the research, parents will be asked to complete a web-based questionnaire regarding their child’s mobile device usage at home. The questionnaire will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The questionnaire consists of questions which relate to their child’s mobile device usage at home and parents’ experiences and opinions about this usage. I would like to highlight an important thing about this research which is that this study does not aim to evaluate or judge parents’ parenting regarding technology use at home. 

By helping us to reach possible participants, you would be contributing to a project that will increase educators’ knowledge about the role of mobile devices in the daily lives of children with special educational needs or disabilities which in turn could provide a foundation to support these children’s development through mobile devices. Also, there is potential for this study to guide policymakers in their decisions regarding educational technology. 

The University of Nottingham has strict ethical procedures on conducting ethical research, consistent with current British Educational Research guidelines. This research has been viewed by the School of Education Research Ethics Committee and has been approved. Participation in this study is voluntary and participants are free to withdraw at any point during completion of the questionnaire, without having to give a reason. All information collected through the questionnaire is provided anonymously. No personal identifiable information will be requested in the study. Participants will not be able to be identified or identifiable in any reports or publication of this research. 

I have attached all related documents of the study including the participant information sheet, the survey questions and the research advertisement poster and I am happy to answer any questions or provide more information if it is necessary. I am in desperate need of your help to reach parents/carers of young children with SEN and it would be greatly appreciated if you could forward the study information. 

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing from you.