Cronbach's Alpha

Cronbach’s alpha (α) is a tester that identifies reliability of a measure, therefore it identifies if each item within the questionnaire is consistent. Kline (1999) states that it is acceptable to have scores that show unreliability due to the diversity of what some items are measuring. As the Cronbach’s alpha score is calculated partly by the number of items of the scale squared, the more items on a scale can lead to a higher α score; therefore a high α score cannot always be attributed to meaning it is reliable. Another factor that can affect α is the phrasing of items, if scores are reversed for example, it can effect on α score. To understand what may be causing a lower α score, a correlation between measures can be conducted. This will allow the verification of internal consistency to see if the items are forming one factor with each other.

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A reliability analysis was carried out on all three measures used within this study. Cronbach’s alpha for the Body appreciation scale (BAS) showed that the questionnaire had an excellent internal consistency, α = 0.92. The 10 items all were worthy of retention, as the decrease in alpha if they were deleted was not substantial. The one exception was item 1 which would increase the alpha to α = 0.93. This is consistent with a study conducted by Tyla and Wood – Baraclow (2015) where they had a Cronbach’s alpha of α =.92 for women who were a mixed ethnic demographic, 11% of women identified as African American. Swami, Chouhan, Leon & Towell (2009) looked at positive body image and ethnic differences in British undergraduate students. 67 of the total 387 female students identified as African Caribbean. The Cronbach’s alpha for this study was α = 0.73 which is slightly lower than the results of the current study.

The Cronbach’s alpha for Multi group ethnic identity scale (MEIM) was good, α = 0.83. The 12 items were assessed, however 1 item would increase the alpha slightly, the removal of item 2 would increase the Cronbach’s alpha to α = 0. 84. The MEIM was administered on 196 American born undergraduates, where the ethnic group were diverse, the reliability was calculated, α = 0.69 identifying a lower internal consistency (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990).

The last measure that was assessed for reliability was the Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale (SEQ), and as some items were reversed it was essential that when assessing this measure the reversed items were included correctly. The Cronbach’s alpha for the self-esteem scale was α = 0. 86 which is also good. From the 10 items included in this measure, the exclusion of any of the 10 items would not increase the Cronbach’s alpha. The Rosenberg self-esteem measure was also used in a similar study, where they identified amongst Black British women the reliability was α = 0. 76 (Swami et al, 2009) showing there is no variance from the present data to the data collected in the study by Swami et al (2009). All three measures show that they are reliable and the items within the measures are consistent with each other.

2.6.8 Quantitative Procedure

Recruitment adverts were placed around City University and shared on social media. The advert included the link to the questionnaire that was designed on the Qualtrics website. The questionnaire was online and

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accessible to anyone. Before accessing the questions, participants had to read an information sheet that explained why they were asked to participate; reiterating that they must be of African Caribbean decent, female and over the age of 18. The process of taking part was explained along with what the participants will have to do. Confidentiality was explained along with informing them that they can stop at any time. The title of the study and who they can contact for further information was enclosed, a consent sheet to participate was given and participants were unable to proceed till they marked agree or disagree. Following answering this question, participants were presented with the demographic questions; age, level of education, height, weight and level of confidence. Participants were then presented with three questionnaires; The Body Appreciation Scale (Avlos, Tylka & Wood Baracalow, 2005), the Multi group Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992) and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Questionnaire (Rosenberg, 1965). Once completed, participants were presented with a debrief sheet that also gave information of contact details for further support if it was required. At the end of the online questionnaire participants were given the opportunity to leave their email address if they were interested in participating in the focus group part of the study. The data was generated and automatically coded into SPSS format. Upon completion of the questionnaire participants were provided with the researchers email address.

The online questionnaire was developed on a system called Qualtrics which allows one to create a questionnaire and copy the link in order to distribute it. The posters consisted of a brief description of the study and criteria required, those who were interested in participating were asked to contact the researcher via email which was provided. Participants who contacted the researcher were sent the link which takes them directly to the questionnaire. The link was placed on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The data was taken from Qualtrics system and exported to SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). To analyse the data, the types of statistical tests that were used for analysis were correlational analysis, descriptive statistics and multiple regression.. This is so the researcher is able to see if there is a correlation between the variables of self-esteem, BMI and ethnic identity in the level of body appreciation in Black

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British women. Cronbach’s Alpha levels were also observed when looking at the reliability of the questionnaires used.

2.6.9 Quantitative Data Analysis

All data was analysed using SPSS statistics version 25 for Apple. Alpha levels were set to p<0.05. Scores for the questionnaires were calculated according to the description given for each, ensuring that reverse coding was created for those that required it. All data entered was then screened prior to the analysis to check for errors in the entry, this was done by observing the ranging in scores. As an online questionnaire was created using Qualtrics software, this allowed for the participants who were carrying out the questionnaire to be directed back to unanswered questions. Although, many participants did not complete the questionnaire in its entirety, whether out of choice or by mistake, participants had the right to not answer all questions if they did not wish to. The completed data that was completed to debrief stage was analysed. There were 8 missing BMI scores, due to participants not completing either their height or weight. To ensure no missing data would be reported when analysing the data, the average was taken from the BMI variable which was inputted into the 8 missing data scores (M= 25.87, SD = 4.72). In order to identify outliers, box plots for each variable was examined which indicated there were no extreme outliers to remove.