How Comfortable Are the 9th Grade Girls With Their Changing Bodies - 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). A brief overview of the plan The study will start with the 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 girls’ 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 researcher 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 reason 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 the form of checklist 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 the research are not biased.

In other words, 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 the accuracy and credibility of information by selecting well-designed instruments. There are two types of validity, which according to Garson (2008) include internal and external validity. The biases that are likely to affect the results of this study are the major threats to internal validity.