Aplicación del procedimiento para el cálculo y análisis de los costos

3.4.1 Target population

A population in research refers to a group of people or items with similar features or characteristics that have caused researchers to interests for investigation. In this study, adolescents at their secondary school in the UK and

85 China were targeted as the research population. According to WHO (World Health Organization), adolescence nowadays happens between the ages of 10-19. This study focused on adolescents in secondary school which means that the target population was aged 12-16. The reasons why adolescents aged under 12 and aged 17-19 were excluded was firstly because adolescents below 12 are usually primary school students and regarded as children. More attention is usually paid to this group of children due to the need of children protection, which may have caused some unexpected challenges throughout the data collection. Additionally, students who are 17-19 are busy with preparation of A-levels or who are in their adjustment to universities. After consulting teachers of Year11 and above, it was felt that these students might be less willing to participate in this research than younger students due to their busy schedules of learning. Therefore, considering research aims, convenience, the real situation and practical reasons, adolescents aged at 12-16 in secondary school were targeted in this study.

3.4.2 Sampling

Sampling can be defined as the process that a researcher uses to select units from the population that he/she wishes to investigate. Sampling works as a way to gather data based on a relatively small amount of a population because it is impossible to obtain access to every single individual in a population (Gorard, 2001; Uprichard, 2011).

There have been on-going discussions about what and how a chosen sample can meet research aims driven by theoretical considerations. Two sampling methods are mostly discussed and employed when a researcher selects units for research: probability sampling and non-probability sampling (Bryman, 2012). Probability sampling refers to a sampling technique with a complete sampling frame to select a small amount of a population, in which the selected sample is expected to

86 meet the representative of the population. Non-probability sampling has no sampling frame and is usually adopted for qualitative research purposes in which explorations of events and practices are emphasised (ibid.). Through non-probability sampling, a sample is selected purposefully to meet research aims, but does not attempt to generate representativeness (Merriam, 2011). The aim of this research is to explore how adolescents perceive digital reading in terms of their preferences for text formats, online reading comprehension and gender differences when interacting with both printed and digital texts in a changing textual landscape. In other words, this research aims to discover instead of to generalise. Therefore, non-probability sampling was chosen to choose units for this exploratory research.

It is argued that purposive sampling or purposeful sampling is the most commonly used sampling strategy in qualitative research (Bryman, 2012). Purposive sampling identifies and selects cases ‘based on specific purposes associated with answering a research study’s questions’ (Teddile & Fu, 2007, p.77). As qualitative research ‘focuses in depth on relatively small sample’ (Patton, 1990, p.169), it is important to identify and select cases to purposefully include those who have experiences of a phenomenon (Cresswell et al., 2011). Sampling participants purposefully would support ‘the most effective use of limited resources’ (Palinkas et al., 2015, p.533). In addition to the importance of selecting those who are experienced with a phenomenon of a study, the availability of such individuals and their willingness to participate are also believed to be important (Bernard, 2002). Regarding types of sampling strategies among purposive sampling, typical sampling, unique sampling, maximum variation sampling, convenience sampling, snowball sampling and theoretical sampling are regarded as six main types of purposive sampling (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). This study employed multiple methods in a sequence of focus groups, survey and individual interviews. Sampling for these three methods will be discussed below.

87 Prior to the discussion of sampling in each method, it is important to bear in mind that there should be no significant gap between schools in the UK and in China in terms of the availability of digital devices for teaching and learning. Resources of technologies for both printed and digital reading practices in schools and adolescents’ ownership of digital devices were considered when deciding which city and schools to be sampled. Coventry, Birmingham and Leamington Spa were chosen as the research sites because they were readily available to me in terms of distances. Meanwhile, schools in these cities are installed with smart whiteboards and computer suites, which provide students with opportunities to read on screen in school. In China, more and more schools have been funded to introduce technology into teaching and learning. Students in China, especially those who are in urban areas, have access to digital texts as well as printed materials in school. The research site in China was Xiamen, a city in the southeast of China. It is not a very advanced and developed city like Shanghai or Beijing, which means that the technology resources are at the average level of other cities in China. Therefore, it could be assumed that there was not much variation in the availability of digital texts and digital reading in these cities in China and UK.

Focus groups sample

As the aim of focus groups was to gain a general picture of students’ voices about digital reading based on their experiences of reading print and digitally, it is important to get ‘a fair picture of the diversity’ (Mertens, 2011, p.317) of participants, including those who have rich and few experiences of reading through different technologies. Therefore, a large number of schools facilitated with technologies for teaching and learning were contacted and informed of the purpose of focus groups and this research. Considering the responses from secondary schools and adolescents regarding the availability and willingness of students to participate, convenience sampling was used. Eight groups of students were sampled, four in each country. Each group involved four to five students,

88 both girls and boys from different Year/Grade groups.

Survey sample

As focus groups were used as the primary stage of data collection, the findings of focus groups regarding adolescents’ perceptions of reading and their textual interactions were designed to be used as guidance for the survey design. The survey was planned to explore patterns and reading practices of adolescents across the UK and China. Although self-completion questionnaires in the survey aspect of this study focused on students’ perceptions of reading in the digital age, the aim was for as many students as possible to finish questionnaires, which may to some extent generate representativeness. However, the number of adolescents in the UK and China is considerable. It is not possible to get a complete copy of adolescents’ contact information not only because the number is so large, but also because of the need to protect adolescents as vulnerable individuals. Therefore, snowball sampling was used. As contacts with some schools had already been successfully made for focus groups, these schools were asked if they could help with the survey stage by inviting students from their own school and other schools to complete self-completion questionnaires.

Based on the response from schools, two schools in China and three schools in England were chosen because teachers in these two schools showed great interest in the study which was likely to help ease data collection. 800 questionnaires were planned to be distributed, 400 in each country. In China, students at 7th to 10th Grade aged (in the 12-16 age range) were selected to be participants. Similarly, students in the UK at Year7 to Year10 normally aged 12-16 were selected. Each Grade group needed to have 100 students to complete questionnaires to make sure that participants were balanced in terms of numbers. The average students’ academic performance of each class was similar. Therefore, any class could be approached as long as permission was gained from schools and participants.

89 Individual interviews sample

Given that the aim of this study was to discover not to generate, obtaining in-depth data from adolescents experienced with textual interactions both printed and digital in the digital environment of reading would be insightful. In addition, as has been suggested, the availability of participants and their willingness to participate were important (Bernard, 2002). Therefore, participants for individual interviews were sampled from those who completed questionnaires and who were experienced in various reading practices through different media with both printed and digital texts. Convenience sampling was then adopted. It is believed that students who completed the questionnaire for this research would be ‘well-informed informants’ (Hitchcock & Hughes, 1995) on the research topic. Meanwhile, interviewees were chosen from those who showed interest at the end of the questionnaire in participating in individual interviews. It could be speculated that these students would be willing to talk about their experiences of and knowledge about reading in the digital age. On the basis of actual problems, such as the availability of participants and limited time and funding, 20 interviews were planned, 10 in each country.

Sampling strategies and processes in this qualitative study with multiple methods were selected purposefully because of the nature of this research and situations of actual practice. The detailed processes of collecting data will be presented in the section on data collection.