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Methods and Analysis of Qualitative Research

The product being evaluated is a new clothing line for students called Student Preparatory Attire (SPA) program. The research question being asked is to what extent, if any, the clothing line is perceived as being a positive influence on the lives of the students who purchase the clothing line and how much they feel the clothing is worth. Additionally, the study seeks to determine the perceptions, thoughts and beliefs about the clothing line that are either negative or positive in nature, and if any of the recently initiated improvements made to the clothing are being perceived as having a positive or negative effect on the clothing lines overall style and look. Specifically, the research question asks does the SPA clothing line provide a positive channel for students who seek to look, and feel, good when they are participating in physical and service oriented projects at school? The necessary sample for this particular study will take shape in two different stages, and will encompass a number of different environments. The first sample will be relatively small in number since the study will be incorporating formative interviews as the first step. A formative interview is conducted with select users to inform the design used within the study of other surveys, questionnaires and reports focused on participant actions and beliefs. A recent study used a formative structure and determined that the qualitative data collected during the study provided evidence of use of formative feedback, and of

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resulting improvements (Wingate, 2010, p. 519). That is exactly what is needed in this study; formative feedback focused on the improvements made to the SPA clothing line and how those improvements are perceived by the students, and their parents. The sample size used in the Wingate study was relatively small; this study will seek to contain the formative interview process to a small number of participants as well. Since the clothing is geared towards students in grades 9 through 12, the participants will be chosen randomly from those grades as well. One male, and one female student from each grade will be chosen to interview using questionnaires developed for the formative interview. From those interviews, a more comprehensive approach can be taken with a larger sample size. It is projected that 10 students from each grade will be chosen to participate in the overall study after the formative interviews have taken place; these participants will all be chosen randomly from a group of volunteers. The next step in the data collection process is to develop a full-fledged questionnaire from the responses gathered from the formative interviews. The questionnaire will ask a series of questions with responses based on a Likert Scale format. The Likert Scale has been used before in studies such as these and recently one study determined that the Likert Scale was a valid and reliable scale in measuring the attitude directed at the profession of physical education teaching (Unlu, 2011, p. 2014). Since this study will be looking at a bi-gender clothing line for participants in a physical education program in an educational environment, it could be assumed that the Likert Scale (which has proven valid and reliable in other similar circumstances) would likely be valid and reliable in this circumstance as well. An advantage to using a Likert Scale is that the

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results can be used to quantify questions and responses that are generally qualitative in nature. Once the questionnaire is finished, a focus-group question guide will be developed. The question guide will be used primarily by the researcher in order to guide the focus group, and one-on-one interview process. The questions contained in the guide will be open-ended in order to induce the participants into providing thought provoking and contemplative responses. The responses to these questions will be categorized into two separate categories; one positive and the other negative. The researcher is not necessarily looking for quantitative data to these questions, but is more interested in how the participants view the clothing line and especially the recent improvements made to the overall style of the clothing. The reason for using a focus group in this study is because it has been determined to be an effective method for gathering qualitative data. Many experts agree that focus groups are a frequently employed and valued method of data collection in the Social Sciences (Rodriguez, Schwartz, Lahman, Geist, 2011, p. 401). Focus groups also allow the researcher an ability to observe while not actually participating. Documenting and storing the data will be the researchers responsibility and will consist of written, audio, and digital recordings that will remain in the researchers possession at all times.

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Research Questions
1. Recently a style change was made in the SPA clothing line program, was this

move a positive one?

2. Please elaborate on why you do or do not view the change in style as positive in

nature.
3. What type of physical activities do you view as acceptable for the SPA clothing

line, and why?

4. What type of physical activities do you view as unacceptable for the SPA clothing

line, and why?

5. What type of service activities do you view as acceptable for the SPA clothing

line, and why?

6. What type of service activities do you view as unacceptable for the SPA clothing

line and why?

7. The SPA clothing line seeks to be rigorous and durable by design and can handle

a lot of abuse, wear and tear from students during the course of their physical activities. Is your perception of the rigorous requirements positive or negative in nature?
8. What articles of clothing or accessories would you like to see added to the SPA

clothing line?
9. What articles of clothing or accessories should be taken away from the SPA

clothing line?
10. What would you do to improve the SPA clothing line for physical activities?

References

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Rodriguez, K.L.; Schwartz, J.L.; Lahman, M.K.E.; Geist, M.R.; (2011) Culturally responsive focus groups: Reframing the research experience to focus on participants, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Vol. 10, Issue 4, pp. 400 417 Unlu, H.; (2011) Developing an attitude scale for the profession of physical education teaching (ASPPET), Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, Vol. 11, Issue 4, pp. 2014 - 2020 Wingate, U.; (2010) The impact of formative feedback on the development of academic writing, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 35, Issue 5, pp. 519 533