3.2.6 ENSAYOS DE INHIBICION CON Y SIN PREINCUBACION

Pawson et al. (2004) point out that social programmes are embedded within social systems. This means that any changes linked to taking part in the programme are the result of the interactions within and between the layers of social relationships surrounding the programme (Pawson et al., 2004). Therefore it is important to take these layers into account when carrying out realistic evaluation, rather than simply focusing on the experience of the individual. Within the current study, this was addressed by gathering the views of participants inhabiting a range of levels: pupils, school staff and REC staff.

51 A purposive sampling approach was taken to identifying participants to take part in this study. According to Cohen et al. (2011) a purposive sample is one which the researcher selects participants on the basis of particular characteristics. As stated, there were three target populations for this study, the first two being pupils and staff from Valleywell primary schools who were due to attend a five day residential to one of the three LA RECs during summer term 2016. Based on information provided by the Valleywell RES, it was identified that there were a total of six school groups which met this criteria. Initial contact was made via telephone calls to each of these six schools in an attempt to identify a key point of contact within the school and explain the aims and planned procedure of the study. The Head Teachers of two of the schools declined to take part in the research due to their involvement in existing, but unrelated projects. Secretaries from another two of the schools advised that I make contact with the Head Teacher via email. Emails were sent giving a brief outline of the study and requesting contact via email, telephone or face to face. However, I received no response to these. This left two schools from which members of the senior leadership team had expressed an interest in taking part in the study. The deputy head from one of these schools, Forest Hall, appeared particularly enthusiastic and provided a very swift response to arranging a face to face meeting, whereas the contact with staff at the other school was limited. Therefore, Forest Hall Primary school was selected as the focus of the study.

Once the school had been identified, letters were sent out to the parents of the fifty pupils due to attend the residential trip. These letters included an information sheet outlining the research, parental consent forms and contact details for myself and my university and placement supervisors (see Appendix B). This resulted in a total of twenty-six signed parental consent forms being returned, all of which gave consent for these pupils to take part in the quantitative element of the study. Of these twenty- six pupils only two declined to take part, leaving a total of twenty four pupils to participate in this part of the research. For the qualitative element of the study, parental consent was received for eighteen of the pupils and of these, eleven pupils gave their own consent to take part. All the pupils taking part were in Year 5 at Forest Hall Primary School and were aged between 9-10 years. Nineteen of the

52 pupils were female and school data indicated that twelve pupils were eligible for PPF.

As stated earlier in this section, the second target population was school staff. In order to recruit school staff to take part in the study, letters were sent to the four members of staff who had attended the trip to the REC. Of these, two members of staff agreed to take part in an interview. These were both female and of white British ethnic origin. They were also both employed as Learning Support Practitioners (LSP) within the school and had attended a number of residential trips during their time at the school. One of the LSPs also had an additional role as the school’s Forest School leader.

The third target population was staff from the REC. Recruitment was carried out via a key contact at the REC, who distributed information sheets to centre staff. This resulted in three members of staff volunteering to take part in a group interview. These consisted of one female and two males, all of whom were of white British ethic origin. One of the males was the Head of Centre and the two other staff members were members of the tutorial team who lead the day to day activities at the centre.

It should also be noted that I attempted to gather the views of the parents of pupils who had attended the residential trip. However, despite sending two rounds of letters and two text message reminders, via the school, no parents chose to attend a group interview session.

Francis et al. (2010) raise an interesting point regarding adequate sample size within research which uses theory-based interviews as a method of data collection. The authors suggest that the number of participants is sufficient when data saturation (a point at which no new ideas emerge) is achieved. However, due to the cumulative effects of time constraints and limited participant interest, it was not within the remit of this study to meet this standard.