Study IIa: Feasibility study

The first study was a small feasibility study conducted to investigate the practicalities of collecting information on cafeteria food choices and intentions from students using a questionnaire approach. Feasibility studies are conducted to ensure that subjects can be recruited and the required data can be collected, before a larger study is undertaken. Since questionnaire studies are rare in Saudi culture, it was important to ensure that students would be prepared to provide information to a researcher. Lessons learnt from feasibility studies ensure that the main study processes run smoothly, and high quality data are collected (Tickle-Degnen, 2013; Lancaster, 2015).

Setting: Cafeterias at the University of Ha’il

The setting for this study was cafeterias at the University of Ha’il, The cafeterias are open daily from 7.30am to 2pm, and students purchase items between classes. Men and women students

are educated separately in Saudi Arabia, and have their respective classes, and cafeterias, in geographically separate locations. The range of items available for sale and prices are the same in all cafeterias. Students select and purchase products from a chilled counter (Figure 8), and go to tables outside, or elsewhere on the campus, to consume them. Students cannot bring their own food onto campus. Both the men and women sections also have vending machines. Whilst men can leave the University to buy food during the day, women students are not permitted to do this.

The menus in the cafeterias are limited to three categories of foods: entrees (five types of sandwich); snacks (a variety of chocolate bars, cookies and potato crisps); beverages (water, sodas, juices, tea, and coffee). It is notable that most products on sale are energy-dense and few healthy options are available; fruit and salads are not offered. Table 2 shows the items, prices and quantities sold.

Figure 8. Serving Counter

Table 2. Items sold at the cafeteria, prices and sales data

Questionnaire design

A short questionnaire was designed, to be administered to students in the cafeteria who had purchased any snack item (sweet or savoury), either on its own, or in combination with other items. The questionnaire sought to collect background information about the respondent, what

Category Item Brief

they bought on the visit to the cafeteria when they were recruited, what factors influenced their choices and whether they would alter their purchasing patterns if fruit items were available in the cafeteria. The study focused on students who had purchased snack items as fruit was regarded as a potential healthier substitute.

The final instrument comprised 13 items (see Appendix II): a record of what food items the respondent had bought on the current visit to the cafeteria, and total expenditure on food;

whether or not they would have purchased an item of fruit (apple, orange, banana) if it had been available at price of 1 SAR, and what other items they would have also purchased (to assess if fruit might substitute for less healthy snack alternatives); whether those who stated they would buy fruit at 1 SAR also thought they would still buy it at higher prices (2 SARs and 3 SARs); how healthy respondents considered sweet snacks, savoury snacks and fruit to be (5 point scale, 1=not to 5=extremely); how often they visited the cafeteria; how often they purchased snack items; the importance (not, slightly, moderately, very, extremely, or don’t know) of five factors as influences on choice (taste, price, healthiness, weather conditions, amount of time they had, what friends were purchasing: socio demographic factors (age, living situation (with parents / married , times per week took exercise, smoke (yes/no), height and weight from which BMI was calculated). The price of fruit was fixed at 1 SAR per piece, which is the lowest currency denominator, a realistic local price, and competitive with other snacks that were typically priced at 1 – 3 SARs. In this way, budget constraints did not affect student choices. The questionnaire was piloted on a small number of students and amended in the light of feedback. In particular, in line with many psychological theories, students suggested that their purchases were influenced by what their friends had bought, and this was added to the list of options to the item on factors affecting food choices.

Data Collection

Students were recruited to the study during April and May 2012. A notice was placed at the entrance to the cafeteria #4 and #5 in the female and in cafeterias #1 and #2 in the male sections to inform users that a study was taking place and to inform them that participation was voluntary. The notice did not explain the nature of the research to avoid the possibility of influencing responses (see Appendix II).

A convenience sample of students was approached and invited to complete the questionnaire by AH (women) and a male colleague (men). They were given a letter that briefly explained

the purpose and content of the survey. Data were collected from those agreeing to participate by means of a face-to-face interview for completion of the questionnaire items on food purchases they had made, and self-completion of remaining items. To help them respond to the questions about food choices, respondents were shown a current menu card listing all the items for sale and current prices, and a revised menu card with fruit option added (Figure 9).

CURRENT MENU CARD MENU CARD WITH FRUIT

Category Code Item Price

Figure 9. Menu items available in the University cafeteria (excludes beverages) The researchers were present in the cafeteria at varying times on about two days every week, until the desired sample size was reached. Inclusion in the study required that they had bought at least one snack item, either sweet or savoury, as listed on the menu cards.

Sample size

The main reason for the study was to assess the feasibility of collecting reliable data from the student population, and sample size calculations are not normally required for feasibility studies (Arain at el., 2010). The sample was restricted to 60 women and 60 men for pragmatic reasons (i.e. time available to collect data). The sample size of 60 ensured that the estimate of the proportion of students stating they would buy fruit, would be within 13% of the actual population proportion based on a 95% confidence interval, using the formula 1/B² where B is the required proportion either side of the mean proportion (i.e. 0.13). The value of 13% means that if 27% of the participants (men and women separately) reported they would buy fruit, there is a 95% probability that between 14% and 40% of the whole population of men or women would buy fruit. The sample size of 60 men and 60 women also means that a difference between genders of at least 26% in the proportions stating they would buy fruit can be detected using a chi-squared test with size=5% and power=80%.

Data analysis

Data were entered into the SPSS statistical software (version 19, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL., USA). Descriptive analyses were used to examine the characteristics of participants with respect to all items in the questionnaire. The responses of men and women were compared using Mann-Whitney U tests for ordinal data, chi-square tests for categorical data, t tests for continuous data. Associations between indicators of health behaviours (exercise, smoking and BMI) and a) respondents’ views on the importance of healthiness when making food choice decisions, and b) their stated willingness-to-buy fruit were explored using Mann-Whitney U tests, chi-square tests and Pearson correlation coefficients, as appropriate.

Effect of feasibility outcomes on future research design

The feasibility study was intended to test the processes of recruiting students to a research project and collecting usable data from them. It was necessary to do this because surveys and research in Saudi Arabia are unusual, and concerns existed around the willingness of students to answer questions about themselves and their behaviours. It would have been unwise to embark on a larger and more complex study without the reassurance that subjects could be recruited. At the same time, the feasibility study provided an opportunity to collect some basic

information about food choices and attitudes of the target group as a grounding for further research.

It is important to prove that questionnaires are fit-for-purpose and able to answer the research questions. Hence, feasibility studies are also used to identify problems in questionnaires, eliminate research design faults, and to measure the practical format and completion time (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2002). The testing can ensure that respondents understand all questions and questionnaire responses yield the full targeted information. It articulates whether the method chosen for the use in a research program is adequate to meet the research objectives (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2002).

The process of data gathering using the Study IIa questionnaire, and the analysis of the responses it generated, indicated certain problems. The inclusion of male students meant that data collection in that segment of the campus had to be delegated to male faculty members.

This created logistical difficulties and unplanned deviations in the protocol. Even though the teaching at the University is in English, a male translator had to be present to explain the study to many of the male students. Moreover, the information obtained from the questions on student purchasing intentions was weak and potentially subject to socially desirable responding. Hence, even though the results identified gender differences in motivations and intentions, a decision was made that subsequent research would focus solely on the women’s section of the University and that a different design to gather data on intentions should be sought.

4.5.2 Study IIb: Experimental study of food choice intentions of women students