Zhang, D., Landmark, L., Reber, A., Hsu, H. Y., Kwok, O., & Benz, M. (2010). University faculty knowledge, beliefs, and practices in providing reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities . Remedial and Special Education , 31 (4), 276–286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932509338348

Accommodations were not specified; faculty members were invited to consider the accommodations they are accustomed to providing to their postsecondary students in their classrooms.

A total of 206 faculty members of a state university system in the South (U.S.), specifically from nine institutions. They taught courses in the following fields: 28% in architecture, arts, liberal arts, and library sciences; 13% in agriculture and life sciences; 12% in education; 12% in engineering; 11% in sciences; 10% in other fields; 7% in health and medical fields; and 7% in business.

The survey measured multiple constructs, including Level of Comfort with Students with Disabilities, Knowledge of Legal Responsibilities, Personal Beliefs Regarding the Education of Students with Disabilities, Perceived Institutional Support, and Provision of Accommodations to Students with Disabilities.

First of all, there were no systematic significant differences in demographics related to the ways that participants scored on the survey. That is, faculty members did not vary significantly in their scores on each of the constructs measured by the survey, based on their demographic characteristics. There are analyses of findings relative to the other constructs measured by the survey. Focusing on the construct of Provision of Accommodations to Students with Disabilities, participants scored a mean of 3.11 (SD = 0.63), indicating that faculty members did not fully support the provision of accommodations to their students with disabilities. Further, scores on Personal Beliefs Regarding the Education of Students with Disabilities was confirmed as the most influential factor on the faculty members' provision of accommodations. The personal beliefs construct includes the faculty members' perceptions of students' needs for accommodations, the efficacy of those accommodations, and other factors. Additionally, an association was found between faculty members' Knowledge of Legal Responsibilities and Perceived Institutional Support predict the variance in the Personal Beliefs construct, indicating an influence of these factors on their personal beliefs.