Ethical Considerations

It is wrong to assume that questionnaire-based research is necessarily innocuous and that ethical issues are of no relevance in such research (Evans et al. 2002). Albeit that this study involves no physical or psychological risks and has no sociological or legal implications, this section considers all potential ethical implications of the current research study including issues pertaining to approval, consent and anonymity.

3.1.10.1 Permission and approval

Phase 1 was submitted for consideration, comment, and approval to the Faculty Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Health, Plymouth University. The protocol was reviewed by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee and ethical approval was granted on the 12th August 2010

Education (to be able to contact the Heads of School and conduct the research study in church schools; Appendix C) and by the individual Heads of School of the participating educational institutions who acted as gatekeepers to recruitment.

3.1.10.2 Informed consent

The researcher did not obtain the consent of participants or of their parents/legal guardians in writing. Consent was implied if legal guardians, after reviewing all the study details as described in the invitation letter (Appendix D), agreed to their sons/daughters’ participation and gave the study’s URL and unique token required for participation to their sons/daughters. Moreover, the initial screen of the online questionnaire, described the following to the participants:

• the nature of the study

• the amount of time required for participation

• the voluntary participation and right to refusal

• an assurance of confidentiality

• that entering the token (unique access code) and completing the online questionnaire constituted informed consent

• the name, address, and telephone number of the researcher, as well as contact details of the research supervisors, to whom questions regarding the study could be addressed.

This is considered to be a common and legitimate way of obtaining informed consent in questionnaire-based research since no unreasonable risks were involved (Stein & Cutler 1996).

3.1.10.3 Confidentiality

Legal guardians and participants were informed that all the data collected were confidential and for research purposes only. The invitation letter to legal guardians and the initial screen of the online questionnaire also gave details that all research measures would be destroyed within ten years after the completion of the study.

3.1.11 Data analyses

Descriptive statistics were generated in order to describe the nature of the sample including the prevalence of overweight and obesity. The internal consistency of the measures used in the current study was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha. Correlations were carried out with the aim of finding relationships between the scores obtained on the data collection instruments, thus testing the operational hypotheses in this study and also providing data to enable devising a model to guide the development of an effective Internet-based intervention. Furthermore, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to further investigate the existence of significant group differences between the groups shown in the quadrant model (Figure 3). In addition, an independent t-test was carried out in order to examine gender differences in perceived stress scores. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows) was used for all of the analyses.

3.1.12 Summary

In this chapter, the hypotheses for Phase 1 and the general overview of the research methodology were provided. The subjects chosen, the instruments used, and the procedures adopted for the study were also presented. The rationale behind opting for an online questionnaire was justified and backed by existing research. Finally, all potential ethical issues as well as details about how the data were analysed in the current study were illustrated. All these aimed to provide a justifiable basis for the current research as well as to enable

replication of this study. The results obtained from the quantitative analyses of the data in the current study are presented in the following section (Section 3.2).

3.2 Phase 1 - Results

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

A.A. Milne

3.2.1 Introduction

This chapter gives details about how the data in the current study were analysed. It presents the results obtained in this study by firstly describing the respondents’ profile including the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the current sample. The reliability of the measures used in this study is presented. The results pertaining to the operational hypotheses are highlighted, and details of additional findings which were considered relevant are given. This chapter concludes with a summary of the major findings arising from this study.

3.2.2 Respondent profile

Seven secondary schools (4 boys’ secondary schools and 3 girls’ secondary schools) and 1 sixth form college agreed to participate in this study. A total of 480 invitation letters addressed to parents were given out and overall 79 boys and girls completed all the questionnaires online. The overall response rate was 16.5% (79 students), with the highest response rate being 52% in a boys’ secondary school and the lowest being 3.3% in three different educational institutions (a boys’ secondary school, a girls’ secondary school, and a sixth form college). Out of these respondents, 31 were Form 3 students, 29 were Form 4 students, 17 were Form 5 students and 2 were Sixth Form students. There were nearly twice as many males as females, although 4 boys’ schools and 3 girls’ schools had been approached. The modal age was 14 (Table 3).

Age Males Females Total 14 34 16 50 15 14 9 23 16 3 1 4 17 1 1 2 Total 52 27 79

Table 3: Respondents' age and gender

All of the respondents used a computer or laptop at home in order to complete the online questionnaire. All but four respondents owned a mobile phone. Nearly two thirds of the respondents owned a mobile phone that could access the Internet (i.e. 44 out of the 75 respondents who owned a mobile phone).

Data about the adolescents’ smoking and drinking habits, their beliefs about family and friends’ support to improve food choice, their influence on home cooking, how often they sat down at table to eat a main meal with their family, and how often they made their own food choices were also collected and are available in Appendix E. These data are not presented in this section either because the number of subjects in the resultant subcategories was insufficient to allow further analysis or because it did not provide data that correlated significantly with the other measures used in this study. For example, 77 out of 79 respondents said they never smoked and only one respondent smoked to feel better when stressed.