The 9th grade girls at Apopka High School are not comfortable with Research Proposal

The 9th grade girls at Apopka High School are not comfortable with their changing bodies. They feel unattractive and insecure an - Research Proposal Example Most importantly, some studies have shown that girls’ tend to develop positive character, including improved self-esteem and confidence, as a result of participating in sports (Scottish Executive, 2003; Strong et al., 2005). Brief overview of the plan The study will start with identification of the problem, then a review of the literature. Thereafter, a field study will be conducted in 10 schools, specifically involving 100 Fifth-Grade female Students. The researcher will ask both open-ended and closed-ended questions, which will help identify different factors that are associated with girl’s participation and lack of participation in sports. As such, the data that will be collected will be both qualitative and quantitative. The analysis of the quantitative data will rely on SPSS for analysis, with regression analysis and descriptive statistics being performed. Nvivo software will be used to categorize qualitative data, especially by identifying common themes. The resea rcher will use purposive sampling to identify the 10 schools and simple sampling in choosing the students that will participate. A purposeful sampling (also called judgmental sampling) is based on the fact the researcher is capable of selecting the schools that are effectively suited to meet the purpose of the study (Ritchie, Lewis, & Elam, 2003). The sample, though seemingly small, is a reasonable for the research purpose because most of the girls in different schools have many commonalities and hence no need to choose a very large sample. The program evaluation will take them form of check list filling, whereby the success of different goals will be identified. The achievement of the goals will be gauged by a rank art scale, which will be assigned 1-5 points for the purpose of quantification. Validity is important in assessing the accuracy and credibility of the data used in this study, which is also critical in ensuring that the results of a research are not biased. In other word s, validity will ensure that the study’s assessment and measurement process achieves the intended goal, or rather what is intended to be measured. To improve validity in this study, the researcher will uphold accuracy and credibility of information by selecting well-designed instruments. There are two types of validity, which according to Garson (2008) includes internal and external validity. The biases that are likely to affect the results of this study are the major threats to internal validity. Examples of such biases include subjectivity, researcher's biases, inflexible knowledge related to the theoretical framework and blind spots (Creswell, 2005). The research will be charged with the responsibility of reducing these biases in order to ensure validity of the study. According to Trochim (2006), external validity is related to the extent to which the results of the study can be generalized in other conditions. Since this study is faced with threats to external validity, i t cannot be generalized outside Atlanta area. Some of the reasons for lack of generalization to other areas include the fact that the demography of Atlanta area is different from other areas in the country. The research will use a triangulation technique to validate the results of the interviews. This will involve application of a number of data validation techniques such as backing up of the evidence from different individuals, using overlapping perspective and pieces of evidence, and authenticating information using several forms of