Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

 
Quantitative methods of data collection. 
Questionnaire.
Questionnaires were used to collect general information from 
teachers to guide the focus group interviews and aid with the programme design.
Gathering information by questionnaire had a number of advantages, as outlined by 
Denscombe (2003); Questionnaires provide standardised answers, they encourage pre-
coded answers, they eliminate the effect of personal interaction with the researcher, they 
allow the respondent time to think before responding and they can be given to many 
people simultaneously. There can be disadvantages too, when using questionnaires, in 
that the pre-coded nature of the questions can prove to be restrictive for respondents.
Low response rate and incomplete questionnaires can also be an issue. However as the 
questionnaires were to be followed by a focus group interview these disadvantages 
could be somewhat overcome. Two questionnaires were administered during phase 
one, one questionnaire for teachers and one for children.
The teacher questionnaire sought to elicit answers about teachers’ practices and 
perspectives on teaching physical education. The 38 item questionnaire (Appendix D) 
consisted of closed, open and 8 Likert scale type questions in 4 sections, and was 
developed informed by previous research surveys and modified for this study 
(Cosgrave, 2006; Murphy, 2007; Tannehill, Romar & O’ Sullivan, 1994). The sections 
were a. biographical details, b. your background in physical education, c. you and 
physical education, d. your experience of teaching physical education. The 
questionnaire was distributed to all teachers (N=28) and a two week time-frame was 
given for its completion and return.
The children’s questionnaire (Appendix E) was administered to 605 children.
Due to participant age range (5-14 years) and reading ability, a pictorial style self-report 
measure was used. This was adapted from a Belgian questionnaire (Pieron, Cloes, 
Delfosse & Ledent, 1996) for use in an Irish setting. Further modifications were made 
to clarify and introduce colour to the graphics, thus making it more ‘child friendly’.
The questionnaire was a combination of personal, behavioural and enjoyment 
determinants and used a combination of categorical, Likert and ordinal scoring 

---

93 
responses. Over a two-day period the questionnaire was researcher administered to all 
participants. Children from first class (year 3) to sixth class (year 8) completed the 
entire questionnaire with children from senior infants (year 2) omitting enjoyment 
measure due to its complex language. Four day test-retest reliability was established, 
percentage agreement scores (N=84, male, 52%; mean 7.85 years; 1.71; range 5-
11years) which yielded an overall agreement of 82% for the instrument, and Cronbach’s 
Alpha value for the enjoyment measure was 0.65.