Below are Examples ONLY DEDICATION To my parents, whose prayers always surrounded me until I become what I am now. To my husband, who was always with me through the journey of struggles and the moments of success. To my little daughter, who when I see her inspirational eyes, all the difficulties of my life become easy. And finally, to my brothers, sisters, and all who are proud of my achievements. Example#2 I dedicate this work to my lovely family: my father and my mother, my wife and all my children (Elham, Ahmed, and Orjuwan), who have always been patient and supportive of me. They always remember me in their prayers. Also, I dedicate this work to my brothers and sisters who have supported me throughout my candidature. I hope I have made you proud. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I thank my God for his assistance in finishing this dissertation so I can earn my Ph.D. in Special Education. Then, I appreciate the great support of my advisor Dr. ……….. I am thankful for Dr. ……..who always respects her students and motivates them for more achievements. Dr. Murdick is a unique person in building great relationships with her students and helping them to overcome obstacles through their studying and researching. I will forever be thankful Dr. Murdick. In addition to that, I have to appreciate my research committee for its worthy contribution. I want to acknowledge Dr. ……….. for her valuable feedback on my dissertation and Dr. …….. for his helpful suggestions to improve the section of methodology to be better and more precise. Finally, words are not enough to express how beholden I am to my mother who is always with me and always in my heart. Also, I am grateful to my siblings and friends' advice. With all of my heart, I always appreciate my loyal husband's support and my little daughter's love until I finished my dissertation. EXAMPLE#2 First, and most importantly, praise and thanks be to Allah (God), the merciful, for giving me the inspiration, wisdom, strength, and endurance to complete this dissertation. I would also like to thank my brilliant advisor and committee chair, Dr. ………... Her guidance and generosity helped make this project a success. In addition, the many hours she spent pouring over my research and providing valuable feedback to me were crucial. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Dr. ………... and Dr. ……….... They provided me with their expertise throughout this process. Their willing contributions gave depth to my research, and for that I will be forever grateful. Next, I would like to thank my amazing family. I will forever be indebted to you. You have all sacrificed so much by allowing me to completely focus on my studies. Your thoughts provided the inspiration that I needed when my work was difficult to complete. Specifically, I would like to thank my father and mother for their prayers to me and their encouragement to me at all times. To my lovely wife, Tanwir, thank you for your many sacrific ...

1. Below are Examples ONLY
DEDICATION
To my parents, whose prayers always surrounded me until I
become what I am now. To my husband, who was always with
me through the journey of struggles and the moments of
success. To my little daughter, who when I see her inspirational
eyes, all the difficulties of my life become easy. And finally, to
my brothers, sisters, and all who are proud of my achievements.
Example#2
I dedicate this work to my lovely family: my father and my
mother, my wife and all my children (Elham, Ahmed, and
Orjuwan), who have always been patient and supportive of me.
They always remember me in their prayers. Also, I dedicate
this work to my brothers and sisters who have supported me
throughout my candidature. I hope I have made you proud.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I thank my God for his assistance in finishing this
dissertation so I can earn my Ph.D. in Special Education. Then,
I appreciate the great support of my advisor Dr. ……….. I am
thankful for Dr. ……..who always respects her students and
motivates them for more achievements. Dr. Murdick is a unique
person in building great relationships with her students and
helping them to overcome obstacles through their studying and
researching. I will forever be thankful Dr. Murdick. In addition
to that, I have to appreciate my research committee for its
worthy contribution. I want to acknowledge Dr. ……….. for
her valuable feedback on my dissertation and Dr. …….. for his
helpful suggestions to improve the section of methodology to be
better and more precise. Finally, words are not enough to
express how beholden I am to my mother who is always with me
and always in my heart. Also, I am grateful to my siblings and
friends' advice. With all of my heart, I always appreciate my
loyal husband's support and my little daughter's love until I

2. finished my dissertation.
EXAMPLE#2
First, and most importantly, praise and thanks be to Allah
(God), the merciful, for giving me the inspiration, wisdom,
strength, and endurance to complete this dissertation. I would
also like to thank my brilliant advisor and committee chair, Dr.
………... Her guidance and generosity helped make this project
a success. In addition, the many hours she spent pouring over
my research and providing valuable feedback to me were
crucial. I would also like to thank the other members of my
committee: Dr. ………... and Dr. ……….... They provided me
with their expertise throughout this process. Their willing
contributions gave depth to my research, and for that I will be
forever grateful. Next, I would like to thank my amazing
family. I will forever be indebted to you. You have all
sacrificed so much by allowing me to completely focus on my
studies. Your thoughts provided the inspiration that I needed
when my work was difficult to complete. Specifically, I would
like to thank my father and mother for their prayers to me and
their encouragement to me at all times. To my lovely wife,
Tanwir, thank you for your many sacrifices. In my absence, you
have carried a double load, and you have done so without
complaint. I will never forget your contributions; I could not
have made it this far without your support. To my sweet
children, Elham, Ahmed, and Orjuwan, thank you for always
encouraging me. Your sweet smiles, across many miles, made
the long days worthwhile. You are the reason for everything I
do. I love you dearly. Finally, I would like to thank my
brothers and sisters for encouraging and supporting me
throughout this arduous process.
Example#3
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
First and foremost, all Praises and Thanks be to Allah for
providing me with the health and ability to complete my
doctoral degree. Then, I would like to express my gratitude and

3. my special thanks to my academic advisor and committee
chairperson, Dr. ……….. Her valuable advice, endless support,
and continuous encouragement were motivation and guidance
for me while writing my dissertation. My thanks and my
appreciation also go to my committee members Dr. ……….. and
Dr. ……….. for their precious and valuable feedback which
enriched the quality of my dissertation.
My gratitude and my appreciation should go also to my family;
my parents for their prayers, love, and endless support; my
lovely wife for her patience, support, and love through this
journey; my daughter for bringing the joy to our lives; and my
brothers and sisters for their encouragement to see me achieving
my doctoral degree.
State and local governments use charges and fees to help fund
services. When certain services provided especially benefit a
particular group, then governments should consider charges and
fees on the direct recipients of those that receive benefits from
such services. However, many governments provide subsidies to
various users for policy reasons, including the ability of
residents or businesses to pay. Well-designed charges and fees
not only reduce the need for additional revenue sources, but
promote service efficiency.
Setting user charges and fees can be difficult. Items to consider
when developing charges and fees should include:
1. What are applicable laws and statutes regarding charges and
fees?
2. Are formal policies in place articulating pricing factors or
rationale for any subsidies?
3. What is the full cost of providing the service (both direct and
indirect)?
4. Are rates periodically reviewed and updated?
5. Are long-term forecasts and plans consistent with the

4. decision-making in the rate setting process?
6. How will the public be involved in the fee-setting process,
and how will the public be informed of the result?
Recommendation:
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) supports
the use of charges and fees as a method of financing
governmental goods and services. Concerning the charge and
fee setting process, GFOA makes the following
recommendations that governments should:
1. Consider applicable laws and statutes before the
implementation of specific fees and charges.
2. Adopt formal policies regarding charges and fees. The policy
should:
· Identify the factors (affordability, pricing history, inflation,
service delivery alternatives, and available efficiencies) to be
taken into account when pricing goods and services.
· State whether the jurisdiction intends to recover the full cost
of providing goods and services. Set forth under what
circumstances the jurisdiction might set a charge or fee at more
or less than 100 percent of full cost. If the full cost of a good or
service is not recovered, then an explanation of the
government's rationale for this deviation should be provided.
· Outline the considerations that might influence governmental
pricing decisions. Such policy concerns might include the need
to regulate demand, the desire to subsidize a certain product,
competition with private businesses, economic development,
elasticity of demand for the particular service, and visibility of
the service to the community.
· The specifics of how the fees and charges will be levied and
collected should be a consideration when developing policy.
3. Calculate the full cost of providing a service in order to
provide a basis for setting the charge or fee.
· Full cost incorporates direct and indirect costs (including
operations and maintenance), overhead, and charges for the use
of capital facilities. Examples of overhead costs include: payroll
processing, accounting services, computer usage, and other

5. central administrative services.
· One useful tool for calculating service costs is Activity Based
Costing (ABC). ABC assigns costs to the activities required to
deliver a service and can be more accurate than traditional
costing methods.
· The associated costs of collection need to be addressed.
4. Review and update charges and fees periodically based on
factors such as the impact of inflation, other cost increases,
adequacy of cost recovery, use of services, and the
competitiveness of current rates.
· By updating fees on a periodic basis, this may help smooth
charges and fees over several years rather than having uneven
impacts. Periodic review of the service demand and competition
is also recommended to ensure that the appropriate quality and
price point of the service continues to meet actual demand. The
review should be performed in conjunction with a look at
alternatives for cost reduction.
· Benchmarking individual fees and charges with those charged
by comparable or neighboring jurisdictions can guide a
governing body when setting rates; it can also differentiate
service levels to reveal service or pricing options.
5. Utilize long-term forecasting in ensuring that charges and
fees anticipate future costs in providing the service.
· If the charges will recover costs associated with other long-
term plans, such as a multi-year capital plan, a longer-term
service fee plan should be consistent, recognizing the plan may
be amended to reflect changing conditions in the future.
6. Provide information on charges and fees to the public.
· There should be opportunities for citizen feedback,
particularly when new rates are introduced or when existing
rates are changed. This includes the government's policy
regarding full cost recovery, subsidies, and information about
the amounts of charges and fees (current and proposed), both
before and after adoption, and the anticipated impact of the new
fee on providing the service in future years.
Committee:

6. Governmental Budgeting and Fiscal Policy(BUDGET
CHAPTER 5: EXPLANATIONS AND
CONCLUSIONSIntroduction for the Chapter
A successful school-parent partnership primarily seeks to create
opportunities for the teachers and parents to engage in
progressive, collaborative efforts, which focus on addressing
the challenges as well as the general progress of the students
both at school and home. Accordingly, constant teacher-parent
communication becomes an essential prerequisite in the
establishment and sustenance of successful partnership between
parents and schools, especially for children with autism
spectrum disorders, who may often require specialized
attention. Azad et al. (2016) emphasized that the success of a
school-family partnership, especially where students with ASD
are involved, depends significantly on the quality of
communication between teachers and parents, which has
demonstrated to have a substantive impact on the students'
general success within and outside school. Under these
circumstances, communication was widely regarded as both an
agent of collaboration and source of conflict in the parent-
teacher partnership (Mautone, Marcelle, Tresco, & Power,
2015). Although both the parents and teachers value timely and
regular communication, it is challenging to create a reliable,
consistent, two-way system of connection between them.
The primary purpose of the study was to determine how
teachers in Saudi Arabia perceived the use of e-mail as a
channel for communication with parents of the children with
ASD, in their concerted efforts to enhance parental participation
on the children’s education and general wellbeing. This study
examined dependent variables that included the perceptions of
the special education teachers towards the use of e-mail
addresses in their communication with parents. The
independent variables under investigation were the teachers’
gender, teachers’ experience, age, the frequency of the e-mail
communication, subjects and grade levels that the teachers

7. taught, as well as the use of e-mail for communication between
the administrator and parents. Accordingly, the researcher
adopted a descriptive design to summarize the views presented
by the teachers on their understanding and approval of e-mail
usage. Therefore, the special education teachers for the
students with ASD became the target population for the study.
This chapter explains the results obtained from the study,
including the context of the study in terms of the place where
the research was conducted, the participants' demographics,
research methodology, as well as the statistical approaches used
in the manipulation of the collected data. In addition, this
chapter provides a comprehensive and detailed interpretation of
the results as they relate to the three research questions which
guided the study. Next, the recommendations section of this
chapter proposes some possible interventions, policies, and
strategies that may enhance the quality and effectiveness of
parent-teacher communication for the betterment of the ASD
students’ education and general wellbeing. There is a section
on the study's limitations, and this discusses some of the
elements of the study that could undermine the reliability,
believability, and validity of the research findings obtained in
this study. Other key sections of this chapter are the research
implications that cover the applicability and significance of the
research findings, and the recommendations for future research,
which highlight valuable procedural and material inputs that
would enhance the quality of the research findings. In the end,
there is a chapter summary that provides a general overview of
the chapter, together with the researcher's opinions on the
research study as a whole. Context of the Study
The target population of the study was elementary special
education educations school teachers in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern
region, which is the country’s largest province. Therefore, for
inclusion in the research study, the target respondents had to be
special education teachers who dealt with children with ASD
and came from the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. In the end,
the sample consisted of 83 teachers, 57 of who were male and

8. 25 who were female. The most popular age group for the
sampled population was between 24 and 39 years of age, while
the least popular was those teachers above the age of 59 years.
Given the nature of data required based on the research
questions, a mixed research approach was favored for this
research, and it included a descriptive survey using a Likert
scale and semi-structured interviews with the participating
teachers.
The examination of the research questions began in the first
phase, where the quantitative data were gathered from the
participants using the 26 questions listed in the survey. After
the research data were downloaded into an Excel file from
Qualtrics, it was subsequently cleaned by excluding participants
who failed to provide their consent. The statistical package for
social science (SPSS) was the preferred format for the coding of
the participants' responses (Azad & Mandell, 2016).
Accordingly, the coded answers formed the core of the analysis
phase, where they were used to respond to the research
questions. In this case, the data collected were analyzed to
explore the perspectives that the individual special education
school teachers had towards the identified variables, namely the
use of e-mail messaging as a tool of communication between the
teachers and parents. In particular, the surveys were fed into
the SPSS for eventual analysis using the descriptive statistics,
variance test analysis, as well as the t-test, which ultimately
revealed how the teachers perceived the variables under
investigation.
After the successful execution of the survey process and the
analysis of the data collected, the researcher conducted a series
of eight qualitative interviews, where respondents provided
their views, opinions, and approval or disapproval of the e-mail
communication platform as part of the parent-teacher
collaboration. In the end, the findings of the interviews were
organized in correspondence with the respective research
questions, and this provided the ease of readability and
contextual interpretation of the responses provided by the

9. participants.
For this research, three questions were formulated, and used to
obtain the views and opinions of the teachers in a more
comprehensive, open, and clear way. The questions were:
Question 1: What are teacher perceptions of e-mail as a method
of communication with parents?
While asking this question, the researcher believed that the
teachers who participated in the research were sufficiently
knowledgeable about how the e-mail communication worked,
and any responses were expected to reflect the teachers’ in-
depth knowledge of the e-mail technology. Accordingly, the
researcher expected that the perceptions of the teachers
regarding the use of e-mail in their communication would be
influenced by how they rated the ease of using the technology
and their belief about the suitability of the e-mails
communication from the parents’ perspective (Pillet-Shore,
2015). In addition, this question about the perception of the
teachers regarding e-mail communication was also aimed at
understanding how suitable the platform is in relaying the
students’ work to the parents, as well as whether the teachers
believed the e-mail communication method enhanced their
professional image.
There was a general agreement by an overwhelming majority of
the teachers, 94%, that they possessed the necessary skills for
communicating using e-mail. This confirmed the assumption
that the participants were knowledgeable and skilled in e-mail
use in their regular communication with the parents. From the
responses given by the teachers, 88% of the respondents
approved the use of e-mail communication as an ideal way of
informing parents about their children’s commendable work in
school. In addition, the majority of the participants agreed that
the use of the e-mail as a communication method would help in
having effective process of communication with parents, an
indication that the teachers had a positive opinion about its use
in promoting parent-teacher partnership.
The positive perception of the teachers towards the use of e-

10. mail in communicating was also demonstrated by the
considerably low percentage of respondents, 24.1%, who
hesitated using e-mail because of any legal concerns. In
addition, 66.3% of the teachers did not think that using e-mail
would lead to the overuse of the medium by the parents.
Nevertheless, there does not seem to be a consensus among the
teachers on whether e-mail messages are prone to
misinterpretation by the parents, which raises an important
concern about the parents’ skills in using the e-mail
communication platform. Ultimately, whereas the teachers
generally believed in the suitability of e-mail messages in
facilitating communication between the school and parents, they
had split opinions about its suitability in communicating
adverse students’ behaviors, with 51.8 percent of the
respondents disapproving its use under such circumstances.
Question 2: What are the relationships among gender, age,
teaching experience, frequency of e-mail use, administrator’s e-
mail use, classroom e-mail access, grade level/subject taught,
school socioeconomic level and teacher perceptions of e-mail as
a method of communication with parents?
For this question, the researcher focused on identifying
differences in teachers’ perceptions of e-mail use in
communication with parents based on demographic and other
personal characteristics. For instance, the researcher sought to
understand whether being a female teacher made one more or
less likely to approve the use of e-mail communication with
parents of students with ASD. In addition, the researcher
wanted to understand if being in the teaching professional for a
longer time, which translated to a greater teacher-parent
interaction experience, had any bearing on the teachers’
approval or disapproval of e-mail technology as an ideal method
of communication between teachers and parents (Sheridan et al.,
2013). In addition, the question puts into consideration a range
of other variables that could have a significant influence on the
use of e-mail communication. For instance, the researcher also
investigated the impact of age on the teachers’ preference of e-

11. mail method of communication because of the belief that
younger teachers were more likely to favor internet-based forms
of communication than older teachers.
An important variable in the responses given by the
participants was the significant disparities based on their
gender. For instance, male and female teachers demonstrated
significant differences in their ratings, including a considerably
higher mean rank for men, who disagreed with the statement
that “The message of the e-mail is easily misinterpreted,”
compared to their female counterparts at p=.025. Given the
gender-aligned differences in the participants’ perception of the
ease of misinterpreting e-mails, it was unsurprising that female
teachers had a relatively lower agreement level on whether e-
mail was a suitable method for communicating with parents. A
similar trend was reflected in the lower level agreement among
female respondents on the statement that “E-mail is suitable
way of relaying commendable learners work to parents.” Based
on this, it is evident that male teachers had a comparatively
higher opinion of the use of e-mail in communicating with
parents compared to their female counterparts.
Younger teachers tended to have more positive perceptions
towards email use, which was not very surprising given the shift
towards digital communication in the more recent years.
However, there were only significant pairwise differences for
two of the items on the scale, suggesting that age did not impact
perceptions as much as one might anticipate before seeing the
data. In addition, there were two statements on the survey that
indicated those with more teaching experience viewed email
more negatively than teachers with fewer years of teaching
experience. This isn’t very surprising because years of teaching
experience and age are theoretically directly related. However,
what was surprising was that the two items with significant
differences for teaching experience were different from the two
items with significant differences for age. This suggests that
future research should be conducted focusing on age and years
of teaching experience related to perceptions of email as a form

12. of communication in the classroom.
In addition, not surprisingly, teachers who used email more
frequently had more positive perceptions related to email use in
the classroom. This suggests that the more the teachers utilize
email, the more benefits they receive. Another possibility is that
teachers with preconceived notions about email use in the
classroom choose not to use email. Further research should be
conducted to determine the direction of this relationship.
Furthermore, when assessing the relationship between
administration approval and perceptions of email use, the
results were also as expected. Teachers who reported that their
administration approved to email use in the classroom tended to
have more positive perceptions of email use than those who
reported that their administration did not approve of email use
in the classroom.
Regarding the relationship between access to email and
perceptions of email as a method of communication in the
classroom, the results were once again, as expected. Those with
access to email in the classroom tended to have more positive
perceptions of email. However, similar to the relationship
involving frequency of email use, further research should be
conducted to determine if the administration approval has a
causal role in the positive perceptions. Finally, the lack of
significant differences in the last to analyses was surprising, as
this related to teachers’ education level and grade taught. It
seems intuitive that those with a higher level of education
would have been taught more about email use in the classroom
and therefore tend to have more positive views, but this was not
the case. In addition, it would be expected for grade level taught
to impact the use of email as different aged students require
different forms of communication, but this was also not the case
in this sample. Overall, there were a range of significant results
that need to be studied further on their own to determine the
nature of the relationships.
Question 3: What are the benefits and barriers to using e-mail to
communicate with parents?

13. This question was answered through responses given by the
participants to the qualitative semi-structured interviews. By
investigating the potential barriers and benefits to the use of e-
mail in the frequent teacher and parent communication, the
researcher was interested in establishing how conversant and
comfortable the teachers were with the technology, as well as
what they believed was the parents’ abilities to use the e-mail.
Among the aspects that the researcher sought to understand was
the level of training that the teachers had in the use of e-mail
technology and whether there were any further training courses
required to enhance their competencies in e-mail
communication. At the same time, the question sought to
understand any notable benefits that the teachers associated
with the use of e-mail communication, and this could include
convenience, speed, and low costs compared to other
conventional modes of communication.
By seeking the teachers’ responses on the barriers and
benefits of the e-mail communication method, the question is
interested in fostering an understanding of how the teachers
made decisions regarding their preferred communication
channels. In this case, the responses given by the participants
were expected to reveal the factors that the teachers considered
to be influential in their decision-making process regarding the
suitability of e-mail communication for maintaining constant
contact between the parents and teachers. The question was
also meant to elicit the teachers’ responses regarding their
perceived negative effects or barriers to the use of e-mails,
amongst which could be fear of insecurity for their data. The
question was also instrumental in acquiring valuable
information on how supportive the school administration had
been in promoting the teachers’ cause for e-mail-based
communication in school.
The outcomes of the qualitative analysis provided insight
into the range of perceptions that different teachers had towards
the use of e-mails for parent-teacher communication. One
important observation was the strong connection between the

14. level of training in the use of e-mails and the approval of this
platform for the teachers’ communication with parents. For
those who approved the use of the e-mail communication,
convenience, reliability, speed, and low costs were the core
factors that informed their decisions. This implied that the
respondents believed in the effectiveness of e-mail
communication as an ideal method for communication between
teachers and parents. However, they were concerned that the
suitability of this channel depended on the infiltration of
internet connections within the region, affordability of the
internet services, and the ease of acquiring and operating and
internet-enabled electronic devices, which may not be
guaranteed for many parents. Hence, the responses made by the
teachers were based on their own convenience as well as the
convenience of the parents with whom they had interacted, in
acquiring, accessing, affording, and using the internet
technology and devices. Nonetheless, it was understandable
that as teachers’ age increased, they trended to not believe e-
mail communication was as reliable as other forms of
communication such as the phone and in-person conversations.
Ultimately, there was a consensus among the vast majority of
the respondents that e-mail method was indeed the most suitable
in sending out messages that included a bulk of attachments or
explanations, in addition to being quicker and cost-effective in
relaying such messages.
The qualitative approach to this question was instrumental
in obtaining detailed accounts of the teachers concerning the
factors that they believed influenced the effectiveness and
suitability of e-mail communication in the teacher-parent
partnership. In this case, the responses were insightful because
of the multiple perspective evaluation of the issues, which
included trying to consider the appropriateness of the e-mail
method from the parents’ perspective. Having interacted with
the parents for a long time, the teachers acknowledged that
some parents would struggle to access e-mail supported
platforms, which inevitably undermined the effectiveness of this

15. method in relaying critical and urgent messages from teachers
to parents. However, there was a unanimous approval that e-
mail use was ideal for communicating school-wide
announcements, amongst which are school projects and
newsletters. Teachers were also cautious that the effectiveness
of the e-mail communication could be affected by the spam
filter problems and the suspicions of fake e-mails by the
recipients. Recommendations for Action
The findings of the research emphasize the significance of
communication as a tool that increases the quality of the
partnership between parents and teachers, thus improving the
academic performances, developmental challenges, and the
general wellbeing of the children with ASD. According to
Mautone et al. (2015), the absence of meaningful and solid
communication between parents and teachers resulted in the
isolation of parents from important processes of their children’s
academic lives, which is detrimental to the children’s growth
and development. In this case, children with ASD undoubtedly
require additional care and have face a range of challenges that
would not be as severe in students without this condition.
Accordingly, continuous and reliable communication between
teachers and parents is instrumental for prompt and quality
interventions both in school and at home whenever any health or
academic-related issues arise.
One of the important recommendations arising from the research
findings is the need for increased awareness regarding parent-
school partnership and its significance in the proper
management of the children with ASD. Accordingly, Azad et
al. (2016) emphasized that the success of a school-family
partnership, especially where students with ASD are involved,
depends significantly on the communication quality between
teachers and parents, which have demonstrated to have a
substantive impact on the students' general success within and
outside school. Under these circumstances, communication is
widely regarded as both an agent of collaboration and source of
conflict in the parent-teacher partnership. In the end, the

16. decision on an effective and prompt form of communication that
facilitates a two-way exchange of information would be critical
in promoting problem solving and improve the quality of
education and learning environment for the target students.
Although alternative methods of communication such as phone
calls, text messaging, and in-person meetings might be the most
popular for parent-teacher partnership, the findings from the
research study revealed the huge potential that e-mail
communication might have if sufficiently exploited and utilized.
As a result, there is a need for the school to facilitate a gradual
adoption of this mode of communication with the aim of
promoting its popularity and effective use by parents and
teachers for both present and future benefits. The observations
made by Azad and Mandell (2016) indicated that electronic
communication provides a more positive and rewarding
experience to the user because of the ease of sending and
receiving messages, as well as the ability to handle bulky
communication files and accommodate multiple communication
lines simultaneously. Therefore, the school has the duty of
creating awareness about the use of e-mail communication, as
well as provide the necessary training and resources for the
teachers and parents. For instance, acquisition of computers or
installation of a functional computer library with sufficient
internet connectivity would enhance the use of e-mail
communication by the teachers because of the resource
availability, convenience, and low cost of communication.
Ultimately, e-mail communication fosters greater parent
involvement in their children’s school progress because of the
increased awareness of all important events, activities, and
issues in school.
Because the findings of this study demonstrated the wide range
of perceptions among the teachers in regard to the use of e-mail
communication between the school and teachers, there is a need
for the stakeholders in the education sector to try and harmonize
the teachers’ collective perception before the full
implementation of the practice. Despite the negative

17. perceptions about e-mail communication only constituting a
small percentage of the respondents, most of whom are older
teachers who might soon retire from their teaching career, it
would be improper to overrule or ignore the significance of
these minorities’ interests if the implementation of the e-mail
communication practice must succeed. Instead, the school
management and teachers need to address the individual
concerns raised by the dissenting voices, and this can be
achieved through dialoguing with the respective teachers to
understand and improve their areas of weakness, doubt, or any
reservations that they might have concerning the communication
method. Limitations
Among the notable limitations of the study is the size and
regional distribution of the sample selected to participate in the
research. In this case, the researcher focused on the Eastern
region of Saudi Arabia, which is a relatively small area, with
the expectations that the outcomes of the research would be
reflective of the whole country. In the end, the geographical
differences in the country are likely to have unique social and
cultural beliefs, as well as varying infrastructural installation,
which inevitably affects the participants’ perception towards the
use of e-mail communication. On the other hand, the quality
and accuracy of the research findings might also be affected by
the complexity of the mixed research design, given that only
one researcher conducted the research. Admittedly, it may
become challenging and confusing for the researcher to handle
both the qualitative and quantitative research studies, especially
in handling of the resultant data and resolving any discrepancies
that arise from the data collected. In the end, the outcomes of
the research could be prone to bias, especially after the
researcher has already collected data using one method before
proceeding to the other. One last limitation to the current study
is the data analysis technique. When recoding the Likert-scale
items into an “agree” and “disagree” category, there is potential
for neutral responses to get recategorized. Therefore, the
researcher will rerun the analyses in the future with a third

18. category coded as “neutral” to determine if the results are
consistent. Implications
The findings of the research have an important influence on the
future of school-parent collaboration, which is becoming
increasingly popular because of the student-centered approach
embraced by most learning institutions today. Considering the
special attention that children with ASD require for their
continued development and learning process, the revelations
about the teachers’ perception of e-mail communication and the
general use of internet communication could be instrumental in
informing legislation of policies at school and national levels as
a way of improving the level of education for these children in
Saudi Arabia. Apart from influencing the national
policymaking on important educational practices, such as the
incorporation of information technology lessons in the teachers’
training, the findings would also impact decisions on revenue
allocation and infrastructural development in Saudi Arabia
because the government would prioritize installation of internet
connection services for improved internet access and effective
e-mail communication. Recommendations for Further Study
In the future, researchers could improve the generalizability and
quality of the research findings by increasing the sample size
and incorporating a wider geographical area to ensure
geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic representation of the
teachers in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, it would be helpful
if the services of data analysis experts or additional qualified
researchers were sought, especially considering the bulky and
complex quantitative data to avoid possible confusion and bias
that may arise when a single researcher handles both qualitative
and quantitative studies. The future study could also be
improved by incorporating parents as respondents in the
research to ensure that their perspectives and opinions about the
viability of e-mail communication method are captured, given
their primary role as partners in the school-parents relationship.
Chapter Summary
In general, this chapter provided a detailed insight into the

19. research study, including the purpose of the study and the range
of variables that the research sought to evaluate in relation to
their impact on the teachers’ perception of e-mail
communication method as a suitable tool for parent-teacher
collaboration. Other areas addressed in this chapter were the
context of the study, which in this case are the geographical,
cultural, and social context of the Eastern region of Saudi
Arabia, together with the demographics of the target population
for the study. In addition, the section covered the research
method used for the study, which in this case included both
qualitative and quantitative methods conducted through semi-
structured interview and surveys respectively. There was also a
detailed account of the three main questions investigated by the
researcher, two of which formed part of the quantitative survey
while the third was answered through a qualitative technique.
Next, the recommendations section of this chapter proposed
some possible interventions, policies, and strategies that may
enhance the quality and effectiveness of parent-teacher
communication for the betterment of the ASD students’
education and general wellbeing. Amongst these was the
increase in infrastructural and training support for parents and
teachers. The section on the study's limitations discussed how
the validity, believability, and reliability of the research could
be undermined, particularly the smaller sample size and the
complexity of the mixed research method. Other key sections
of this chapter were the research implications that covered the
applicability and significance of the research findings, and the
recommendations for future research.