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

Field notes.
According to Spradley (1979) field notes are the records kept by 
the investigator of the events specific to the situation being observed and may also be 
referred to as an interpretive journal. Field notes were taken in the form of a digitally 
recorded journal throughout the study, noting personal experiences, ideas, fears, 
mistakes, confusions, thoughts, and opinions. While many of these thoughts and 
opinions are of my own interpretation they proved to be a useful secondary source of 
data and are invaluable in supporting and explaining the primary data collected. Also 
collected as field notes were conversations, bits of information which I might need to 
recall at a later date, behaviours that were unusual or different, environment and context 
features, physical diagrams and photos of the environment.
Sampling.
When sampling, the size of the sample is determined primarily by 
the research objective, research question(s) and subsequently the research design 
(Jaeger, 1997). As this is a case study and a whole school approach to teaching physical 
education the issue of sampling did not arise. All those invited to take part did so, the 
only time where sampling was necessary was for the children’s focus group interviews.
As all children could not be interviewed, a focus group was established from each class 
group whereby each class would have a male and a female representative in attendance.
The individuals were chosen by the class teachers according to the following criterion 
advised by the researcher:
One male and one female 
Articulate 
Speak on behalf of the class 
Not necessary for child to be ‘sporty’
Willing to take part 

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Informed consent received 
The children were chosen by the class teacher as the researcher felt it was in the 
best interest of the research to ensure that the children were articulate and willing to 
speak on behalf of the class. Random sampling may have turned up shy, inarticulate 
children or children whose first language was not English.