Challenges to school-based physical activity data collection: Reflections from English primary and secondary schools

Sarah Taylor,Michael Owen

doi:10.1177/0017896920959092

Sarah Taylor, Michael Owen

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896920959092

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Abstract

Background: Schools are ideal environments in which to conduct child and adolescent physical activity (PA) research. Despite this, PA-specific practical guidance for school-based research is lacking, which may present unique challenges to researchers. Based on reflections from our own experiences, this paper seeks to provide practical guidance on how best to approach school-based PA data collection. Discussion: This paper focuses on the practicalities of quantitative and qualitative data collection in English primary (4–11 years) and secondary (11–16 years) schools. Recruitment and consent are discussed, and practical guidance provided with respect to engagement with parent/carer(s) and ethical considerations. The importance of good communication with schools, together with its importance in facilitating efficient data collection (through planning, data collection and resource utilisation), is described. Finally, the importance of giving back to the school and participants once a research project has been completed is stressed. Summary: Improved understanding of data collection procedures for school-based PA research is key to helping research become more systematic and efficient. Findings in this paper will be particularly useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students and early career researchers.

Highlights

Children and young people often engage in low levels of physical activity (PA) (Cooper et al, 2015), and a drop in PA engagement is evident as children cross the primary (4–11 years) to secondary (11–16 years) school transition (Lau et al, 2017)
Based on the best available evidence, GAPA identified and recommended actions aimed at increasing population levels of PA, one of which was whole of school PA programmes (GAPA, 2012)
This paper outlines some of the key issues that are important in order to collect PA-related data from children and young people in the school setting

Summary

Introduction

Children and young people often engage in low levels of physical activity (PA) (Cooper et al, 2015), and a drop in PA engagement is evident as children cross the primary (4–11 years) to secondary (11–16 years) school transition (Lau et al, 2017). In order to improve understanding on how best to impact the PA levels of children and young people, more school-based intervention research is needed with both effectiveness (Van Sluijs et al, 2007) and implementation in mind (Durlak and DuPre, 2008). A mixedmethods approach, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, is recommended to obtain a comprehensive understanding of PA behaviour (Thomas et al, 2015) For qualitative data, both focus groups and interviews have been used to provide contextual information in school-based PA studies with children and teachers. For researchers embarking upon exploratory or intervention research with children and young people, commentary papers are more commonly available to draw upon These provide advice and guidance on how to increase the quality of research outside of the well-studied research area of methods selection. Based on our own experience, this commentary piece seeks to provide fellow researchers with practical guidance on how best to approach school-based PA data collection in the UK

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion