Another concern is the lengthiness of the survey -- 35 items -- that may have fatigued some of the respondents and may have resulted in rushed and insufficient care in answering the questions.
Furthermore, attributions may have been incorrectly placed. The participant, too, may have erred due to subjective bias (i.e. A 'falling out' with the principal may have led her to incorrectly accusing administrator of reluctance to integrate); furthermore, few teachers would readily admit to negative attitudes in integrating children, teachers may over-rate or under-rate their abilities (as, for instance, with the question: "I find that my knowledge about teaching pupils with physical disabilities in PE class is satisfactory"), and teachers may have deliberately or unwittingly deviated in order to protect their identity and their identity of the school.
Finally, although the survey was built on earlier studies of inclusion, it would be interesting to know amongst which population these surveys were held. Differences in condition might call for different questions.
My concerns with Spencer-Cavaliere and Watkinson (2010) include the smallness of the sample (only 11 children). The same limitations as are applicable to all qualitative studies exist here, too, namely that the perspectives of the authors may have infiltrated the study with interpretation of data or interactions with the children being two possibilities amongst other means of possible corruption.
Interviewer interferences may, also, exist here (i.e. The characteristics of the interviewer may have inhibited children or caused them to respond in a particular manner). Other possible confounding elements include the manner in which the questions were asked, the tenor of the questions, whether -- and to which extent they were understood, and how honest and open the children were in responding. Even though they seemed honest enough, children may have been driven by peer influences to respond in a certain manner, or their response may have been impelled by their particular mood (or tiredness) at that particular moment.
The mean age, too, is centered around 10 years, a period in...
Peer pressure is a huge challenge at this age, and peer competition may be an enormous threat, when middle school individuals may strive their utmost to conform to the mean of the group rather than deviate from it in any way. Perspective of slights may have been exaggerated; they may have been unintended or non-existent in the first place. Hormonal and physical changes occurs during this stage causing a confusion because of imbalance between what their bodies feel and between their maturity level. In fact, it is during this period that children go through this most challenging and definitive period of all: adolescence, and for many this can be particularly traumatic and confusing (Pruitt, 2000). For that reason, a more diverse age sample, as well as large diversity and cross-sectional sample of children would have been helpful as well as providing a more balanced and, possibly, more accurate response.
Since cultural attitudes, too, play a part in perspective of disability; it would have been interesting to have sampled a population of children from diverse ethnic / cultural backgrounds.
Finally, as the researchers themselves point out, only two of the 11 participants were female, and almost half of the sample had cerebral palsy possibly lending itself to shared experience.
References
Jerlinder, K., Danermark, B., & Gil, P. (2010). Swedish primary-school teachers' attitudes to inclusion - the case of PE and pupils with physical disabilities, European Journal of Special Needs Education, 25, 45 -- 57
Pruitt, D. (2000). Your adolescent: Emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development from early adolescence through the teen years. Washington, DC: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Spencer-Cavaliere, N. & Watkinson, E.J. (2010). Inclusion Understood From the Perspectives of Children With Disability, Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 27, 275-293
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (2007). Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities Innocenti Digest No. 13
