Canvassing the Views of People with a Mental Handicap

As part of the long-term evaluation of the NIMROD Service in Cardiff, a study was conducted to elicit, by interview, the views of people with a mental handicap on various aspects of their lives. including their accommodation, daytime occupation, social life and their contact with the NIMROD Service. Sixty-two clients from three types of residential settings participated in the study. This paper describes the background to the study, the methodology employed, and presents some of the results, in terms of response rates obtained from different question formats. Some of the main methodological issues concerning interview techniques which emerged from this study have also been discussed.