There are a number of different data collection techniques within qualitative research such as: interviews, observations, focus groups, visual or textual analysis and personal experiences. The appropriateness of using interviews in research is outlined by Hennink et al. (2010), Legard et al. (2003), Rubin and Rubin (1995) and Smith (2010). Interviews allow the researcher to explore a social phenomenon by asking questions about a person’s life and using their discussions to offer a picture of their behaviours, opinions and emotions (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998; Smith, 2010). Interviews exist along a continuum, from structured to unstructured (Mansfield, 2005, Smith 2010). These interviews along this continuum are conducted differently and collect different information (Britten, 1995; Frontana & Fey, 1998; Mansfield, 2005; Mason, 2002; Patton, 2002; Sands, 2002; Smith, 2010). Interviews that are more structured in nature are underpinned by
epistemological assumptions closer to the positivist paradigm whereas semi- structured and unstructured interviews are used by those whose work is aligned with the philosophical assumptions of the interpretive paradigm (Mansfield, 2005). Semi-structured interviews follow a pre-determined script whilst giving the interviewee a degree of flexibility to discuss other issues, so unexpected themes may emerge (Ennis & Chen, 2012; Smith, 2010). Unstructured interviews are flexible in nature and allow the researcher to use, for example, a checklist to guide the interview (Smith, 2010). In both semi-structured and unstructured interviews, it is the job of the researcher to probe participants’ answers, encouraging expansion or clarification where appropriate. For my research, a semi-structured approach was chosen. I had a script outlining the topic areas I wanted to discuss, which ensured no important topic areas were missed, however I was able to deviate from the script when appropriate and broach different topics areas.
An important part of the interview planning process was conducting pilot interviews. Pilot interviews allow a researcher to assess the design of the script, identify any weaknesses or lack of clarity, and make alterations before the first formal interview (Kyale, 2007). I asked two females who had limited experience in the free weights areas through training for another sport to be interviewed for my pilot; neither woman described herself as a ‘free weights user’. These pilot interviews gave me the opportunity to trial my planned interview script. After the two pilot interviews I wrote reflectively on the experience, identifying what I needed to change for my first participant interview. In particular, I noted my dialogue at the start was too long making the interview seem a little formal. One of the pilot interviewees actually suggested that she would have been more comfortable discussing sensitive or personal experiences if it had felt less like an interview for a research project and more like a casual conversation. Consequently, I made my introduction less formal and my style more conversational, in the hope interviewees would relax and be more likely to discuss sensitive issues, in turn leading to a more insightful account of their experiences. I also found giving the interviewee an information sheet to read at the start of the interview took up a lot of time and made them feel rushed. I therefore sent interviewees the information
After reflecting on the pilot interviews and making the changes outlined above, I began to undertake the formal interview phase of the study. In total twenty women agreed to take part in these interviews. Appendix 4 summarises background information about each interviewee, and provides the date and location of each interview. The information sheet explaining different aspects of the study given to each interviewee can be found in Appendix 5. The consent form completed by each interviewee confirming they were aged eighteen or over, that they understood the nature and purpose of the research and their right to anonymity and other details such as nationality and ethnicity can be found in Appendix 6.
The participants were formally interviewed once during the data collection period. Interviews lasted between thirty-six minutes and one hour eighteen minutes, and averaged at fifty-three minutes. I recorded all interviews on a digital voice recorder and uploaded the files to my personal laptop before deleting them from the voice recorder. Files were password protected to enhance security and protect participants’ privacy and confidentiality. I transcribed the interviews verbatim and uploaded the transcripts to the data analysis software NVivo.
The interview script (Appendix 7) gave structure to the interviews and included nine key topics: sporting background, current training regime, the free weights environment at the gym, the ideal female body, control of the body and obsession, competition, challenging social norms, social occasions and influences. These topic choices arose from my engagement with academic literature on the female body, social norms, women’s involvement in certain physical activities, the media and social media, as discussed in Chapter 1. The interview script was also influenced by past conversations with female free weights users and my own use of the free weights areas. Importantly, the script was used as a prompt to guide discussions rather than to provide a regimented structure. However, by way of a consistent thread, all interviews began with a discussion of the participant’s background in physical activity and sport to get the conversation flowing in a topic area they were comfortable discussing. The questions were open-ended, which allowed the participants to explain their opinions as well as provide examples of past experiences (Berg and Latin, 2008).
At the end of the interviews the participants were shown seven different images of women with different body shapes. The images were used to stimulate participants’ opinions of various body shapes and sizes and how they related these
to the ideal female body and gender stereotypes. A profile of the images used, and an account of why each one was chosen is included in Appendix 8. Importantly, in daily life, audiences consume and interpret media to create meaning within their social world (Fingerson, 1999). Researchers have examined how audiences of media, including images, are not passive to what they see but construct their own interpretations (McRobbie, 1991; MacBeth, 1996; Fingerson, 1999). As part of the interview, each participant was asked to describe and discuss the various women’s bodies, for example their muscular definition. Using images in an interview is known as “reception analysis” and is often applied in qualitative research to allow researchers an insight into the interpretations of the participants’ initial understanding of an image (Fingerson, 1999; Granello, 1997; Jensen, 1991).
I considered the transcription process prior to commencing my interviews. As Hutchby & Wooffitt (2008) suggest, I decided to type my own transcripts, as this was an effective way to familiarise myself with each woman’s narrative. I transcribed each interview as soon as possible afterwards to keep it fresh in my thoughts. A sample from a transcript can be found in Appendix 9. Transcribing the interviews during data collection allowed me to reflect on my role as the interviewer and what I could continually do to improve. It also gave me an opportunity to begin to reflect on the common themes emerging from the interviews, which is considered good research practice (Davidson, 2009). Throughout Chapter 3, 4 and 5 quotations are generally presented verbatim, except in instances where in order to preserve syntax, slight amendments have been made without altering the meaning.
At the start of each interview I explained to the participants that I would transcribe the interview and that they could review this transcript. Lola and Beatrice both asked to review their transcripts for their own personal reflection and came to me afterwards to discuss what they had read. Their comments were noted in my field notebook. I did not show the interviewees my conclusions, but when Beatrice discussed her transcript with me we did explore her opinion on the topic of muscularity and sexuality and this led to an insightful discussion. Denzin (1978) and Patton (1999) refer to this technique as “triangulation of sources” which involves verifying and gathering additional data at different points and is commonly
At the beginning of each formal interview I asked for their consent that any further conversations I had with them, outside of the interview, could be used within the thesis. All of the women agreed to this and I additionally informed them if any of their informal conversations were used. Furthermore, following the interviews, I also received a number of private Facebook messages from Penny when she read or saw something on social media that made her think of my research. This included photos from social media sites such as Instagram, shown in Appendix 10, and is discussed in Chapter 5. Penny agreed that I could use these comments in my findings.
2.7 Analysis
Data analysis within qualitative research is an important process in exploring a particular phenomenon. The data analysis process I used for this project was thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2013; Corbin and Strauss, 1990; Creswell, 2009; Glaser & Srauss, 1990). After transcribing the interviews, I read and re-read the transcripts to familiarise myself with the data, however I also used the computer software programme “NVivo for Mac 10” in the analysis process. The goal of NVivo is to support sources, such as interview transcripts, with commentary and gives the researcher the opportunity to analyse and evolve detailed discussions of participant narratives (Richards, 1999). My use of NVivo for the current research project was extremely valuable. The software allowed me to keep my analysis in one place and could constantly be adapted. The software helped me create a true picture of the phenomena that was being studied.
The initial step towards data analysis included reading through the data to identify general themes that could be used for further analysis. This is called “open coding” and is a technique that comes from the principle of grounded theory (Corbin and Strauss, 1990, p. 12). Open coding entails going through interview transcripts and field notes line by line to break the text into initial categories or themes (Myers, 2013). This was done using NVivo by highlighting specific parts of the transcript and categorising it into what NVivo calls a “node”.
The second part of the analysis involved making connection between categories. In qualitative research this is known as “axial coding” (Corbin and Strauss, 1990, p. 13). Axial coding involves relating codes (or nodes in NVivo) to each other. A code can be located at the centre of a network and it is the researcher’s
task to identify how this code relates to other codes that have come out of the analysis (Böhm, 2004). This involves giving context to the phenomenon being studied and understanding the themes that give meaning to this phenomenon. The final stage of coding is known as “selective coding”. This is defined as the phase that allows the researcher to create a narrative or grounded theory from the network of codes found (Böhem, 2004; Braun and Clarke, 2006).