Research on disability in Thailand: Meta-analysis and qualitative analysis

• Main Authors: Tavee Cheausuwantavee, Sripair Nookaew, Chommanad Cheausuwantavee
• Other Authors: Mahidol University
• Format: Article
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Social Sciences
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/29966

This study aimed to synthesize the researches regarding disabilities in Thailand in which had been done during 1997-2009 and then those were analyzed by meta-analysis and content analysis. The target researches were collected both electronic database and hard documents that were available in the main 7 libraries of public universities in Thailand. The 264 researches meeting inclusion criteria were undertaken and analyzed by content analysis. While, there were only 109 articles of total researches meeting criteria were analyzed by meta-analysis. The results showed that, in terms of the content analysis, the majority of researches were unpublished thesis produced during 2001-2006, quantitative studies with descriptive statistics, educational and social focus, conducted with small sample size and non-probability sampling without statistical calculation. The principal researchers were usually lecturers. The validity and reliability of instruments were usually measured by specialist and non-specified method respectively. In addition, in terms of meta-analysis, the correlation coefficient (r) of 109 researches was small (0.22). Multiple regression analysis indicated that the particular variables of study features accounted for 46 percent of variation in their correlation coefficients. The best predictors were consisted of 9 variables including 1) experimental or quasi-research design(0.31), 2)independent variable as intelligence(0.22), 3) dependent variable as education (0.16), 4) reliability measurement of instrument as Conbach's alpha(0.13), 5) independent variable as socio-economy and environment (0.07), 6) master degree thesis (0.06), 7) validity measurement of instrument as specialist consensus(0.06), 8) descriptive research design(0.04), and 9) year of research completion (0.02) respectively. These research findings suggest that according to most variables studied have been low relationship and ineffectively selected, thus rigorous researches on disabilities in Thailand need to be done for identifying the further predictable variables. Additionally, some variables that have large correlation coefficients such as teaching and learning model also need to be applied for persons with disabilities in actual settings. © Common Ground, Tavee Cheausuwantavee, Sripair Nookaew, Chommanad Cheausuwantavee, All Rights Reserved.