Essay on Physical Education Research

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Introduction:

Gender segregation is a powerful phenomenon of childhood. The extent of its occurrence depends on interactions arranged by adults for children and therefore cross-cultural and within-culture situational variations make a great deal of difference in the amount of interactive contact male and female children have with one another. (Macooby, Jacklin, 1987). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Gender is the distinction of sex, and segregation is the act or policy of separating people of different races, religions, or sexes and treating them differently. (Fowler, Fowler, and Thompson, 2000) Therefore gender segregation can be defined as separating sexes, perhaps treating those sexes differently. In many countries around the world, the health of future generations is at risk due to the growing problem of obesity and overweight. The World Health Organization [WHO] has identified physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. (WHO, 2010). Physical education programs in schools are designed to promote lifelong habits of physical activity by providing children with both the opportunity to be physically active and positive experiences of that physical activity. In many nations, including Ireland, there is a general concern that levels of physical activity decrease during adolescence, and that girls, in particular, are less active than boys. (Smiley, 2015) Perhaps it is worth examining if schools need to segregate their Physical Education (PE) classes by gender to increase female participation.

Gender Differences:

It is commonly accepted that there are physiological and morphological gender differences. (Lewis, D.A., Kamon, E. & Hodgson, J.L, 1986). The differences between the sexes in body composition are well known: males typically have proportionately more muscle mass, more bone mass, and a lower percentage of body fat than women. Men have larger lungs, wider airways, and greater lung diffusion capacity than women, even when these values are normalized to height. (Blair, 2007). Generally, these differences mean males are stronger, taller, and faster than females. This is the main reason for many popular sports being segregated, it seems intuitively obvious, given the physiological differences that exist between men and women,( Batterham AM, Birch KM. 1985., Shepard RJ.,2000) that athletes should compete against others of the same sex, unless otherwise specified by rule—for example, in coeducational contests—or in disciplines for which the physiological differences between men and women offer no competitive advantage or disadvantage. In keeping with the ethic of fair play, most international sports federations (including the FIVB) organize their major competitions along sex-restricted lines. (Reeser, 2005). The average woman has a smaller inherent aerobic power and less muscular strength than a man, reflecting sociocultural influences, physical size, body composition, and hormonal milieu. (Shepard,2000) Nevertheless, the best-trained women can outperform sedentary men, proving that research has caused girls to become scared of participating in sports with their male peers. This is something that needs to be revisited, as many female students feel far more confident in playing with one another, without the presence of males. Females favor single-sex classes because they are less self-conscious of how they look and how they perform in games as opposed to coeducational classes. (Vargos, 2017) They aren’t scared to make a mistake and receive criticism from their male teammates in a game setting, or from males criticising their skill in general.

Gender segregation in a PE teaching setting:

The country that we live in has an attitude towards segregating genders in sports when they reach secondary level education. Even Nicole Owens, a highly regarded Dublin Ladies Gaelic Football player, talked about how she “benefitted from playing with boys” (Owens, 2019). She says that the “coaching was way more advanced” and how segregating the genders from the ages of 13 and onwards has left a “skill gap”. (Scally, 2019). It is possible to derive the lack of female participants in PE classes from the issue of separating females from males at such a young age. However it can then be argued that gender issues in PE remain in some schools, despite advances in PE research and curricula aimed at engaging females in PE, so there has been effort made to try to combat that skill gap. (Murphy, B. & Dionigi, Rylee & Litchfield, Chelsea, 2014) Teaching practices that support the ability of students to be autonomous in their learning behaviors and strategies are referred to as autonomy-supportive. Autonomy-supportive practices have resulted in increased motivation, as reflected in motivational indices, this was reflected in a study completed by Prusak and Darst in 2002 where the notion of choice led to an increase in female participation. Perhaps it is time to remove the common and competitive sports outlined in the Physical Education Curriculum Specification (Curriculum, 2020), and introduce more social activities like group walking.

Levels of Participation in PE in gender-segregated schools:

Treanor et al. (1998) and Lirgg (1993, 1994) found both boys and girls preferred single-gendered physical education formats. Gender differences in physical activity levels during secondary school physical education might be due to subject matter variations, student biological and motivational changes, societal (peer and teacher) expectations, and increasing differences in motor skill development. While physical activity is an important goal for physical education, it is not the only desired outcome. Current results suggest that girls-only classes can provide more emphasis on building the motor and sports skills many girls lack. (McKenzie, T. L., Prochaska, J. J., Sallis, J. F., & Lamaster, K. J.,2004). A study found that many girls are uncomfortable in their PE class. They feel that they are judged by their peers. They feel like not only are they pressured to participate and pass the class by their teachers, but they also worry about their peers. Constant judgment can force girls to close up and not want to participate. They concluded that coed physical education classes seem to be the main source of the problem. (Staveland, Hassan, Williams, Fenumiai, Wilson, 2016). Perhaps these co-ed classes are the reason for boys being more active in PE classes- in one particular study, contact with the ball during team games was observed. Results revealed that males received contact with the ball more often than females did during gameplay (Turvey and Laws, 1988). Males tended to pass to one another as opposed to passing to a female, even if she was open during the game. Many females stated that the males did not pass to them in class because they did not think that they were “good” at the sport (Turvey and Laws, 1988) Findings in another study reported that females felt as if they executed skills and team sports more efficiently, had more opportunities to practice skills, and felt less afraid of injury in single-sex PE classes compared to coeducational classes (Treaner et al., 1998). If there are so many studies expressing the reasoning for the lack of female participation in PE classes, shouldn’t we stop talking about it and do something about it?

Research question:

Students who prefer single-sex classes are more comfortable with peers who are the same gender, learn skills better, and are less afraid of injury (Treaner et al., 1998), which may help to raise female participation levels in PE. Females in the coeducational classes had extremely low perceived physical competence, and low levels of satisfaction in PE, and displayed minimal effort. In 2006, Evans found that females recognized males in a coeducational class as the audience, which may have led to incompetence. McKenzie (2004) discovered that males interrupted females’ learning in PE, causing incompetence and less time to practice skills. Conversely, when females are in class together without males, they may help and encourage one another as opposed to interrupting one another. This can lead to higher perceived competence (Lyu and Gill, 2011). Therefore, after gathering data and discovering that a vast majority of females prefer same-sex classes, the purpose of this research is twofold; to evaluate the differences in female students’ Physical Education participation and enjoyment from gender-segregated and coeducational Physical Education lessons.

Research Design

The research design is clearly outlined in the literature. The research design is elaborated on throughout the papers. There is a reference to the literature

Context and Participants

The context and participants of the study are comprehensively described. The demographic of participants and ethical procedures are evident. There is also reference literature.

Data Collection

The procedures of the data collection are described with some critical analysis. The analysis of the instruments supports them and establishes their validity and reliability. The procedures are in alignment with the research design. There is also relevance to relevant literature.

Data Analysis

The procedures of the data analysis are described with some critical analysis. The purpose for choosing these methods is clarified. The procedures are in alignment with the research design. Relevant literature is relevant.

Research Design:

This project seeks to evaluate the differences in female students’ Physical Education participation and enjoyment from gender-segregated and coeducational Physical Education lessons. This study will measure participation and enjoyment levels in Physical Education for female-level students who went through Secondary School.

The participants will complete a survey that will provide information including their age, gender, college course, ethnicity, and year of study. Although these variables will not be analyzed as part of the study, they will provide data that can be compared with the national averages (Babbie, 2010). It is important to note that the study will not take into consideration information such as socio-economic status, relationship status, living situation, and culture. This depth of analysis is not possible within the timeframe for the study, however, future longitudinal research could allow for such an examination. They will complete a second part of the survey consisting of qualitative data collection based on enjoyment levels in Physical Education and opinions on gender segregation in Physical Education. A final third part of the survey will be completed based on quantitative data collection where students will rate their participation and well-being levels during Physical Education.

Accompanying Program Scope and Evaluation:

Notes; This fits into this program as Gaelic4Girls is a 10-week programme incorporating coaching sessions with fun non-competitive blitzes aimed at increasing participation in Lady’s Gaelic Football. The program targets girls aged between 8-12 years who are not currently registered with a Ladies Gaelic Football club. In essence, this is a tool to attract new players. (Ladies Gaelic Football, 2020). It is a regime to up female activity levels in sports, quite like this project which seeks to raise participation levels of females within school sports settings.

Research questions:

Why do girls tend to participate in Physical Education less than the male gender?
Would a gender-segregated class help girls to feel more confident in participating?
Do all female-gender schools have higher levels of participation levels in Physical Education? I.e. how many students sit out of a class in comparison.

Data Collection Techniques:

Qualitative: Qualitative research is a form of inquiry that analyzes information conveyed through language and behavior in natural settings. It is used to capture expressive information not conveyed in quantitative data about beliefs, values, feelings, and motivations that underlie behaviors. (Berkwits and Inui, 2020)

In this project, a Google Docs Forum will be used in which participants must answer questions based on their own experience in Physical Education during their secondary school years and questions based on their opinions of segregated Physical Education classes. The participants will consist of female University Cork College students between the ages of 18-24.

Quantitative: Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques. (Libguides.usc.edu, 2020) This collection method will be used in the form will be used in the form of a survey, detailing questions rating the participants’ participation and enjoyment levels in Physical Education from 1-10. This will be a ‘tick the box’ style survey in which participants will answer five questions rating participation level and enjoyment.

Digital and Social Media: The survey will be distributed via an online link to students in various WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups.

Locations of Data Collection: Via a Google Forums account where all answers to the survey are collected.

Time of Data collection: The collection of data will occur over eight months from September to May 2019 during the college year. Therefore the study will be considered cross-sectional, due to the short period over which it will take place.

Data storage: Data captured are stored under Program Scope and Evaluation file No.: 1

Instruments:

WEMWS

The WEMWS was developed in 2005 to measure well-being. The results of the WEMWS are used to evaluate policies and programs and aim to improve well-being. The scale can be applied to many settings, locations, and contexts. Therefore it is a suitable instrument to utilise for this study.

IPAQ

The IPAQ is a series of 4 questionnaires that is used to determine the physical activity levels of individuals aged 15-69. The IPAQ was devised in Switzerland in 1998. On its completion, it underwent rigorous testing across 14 locations to test its validity and reliability. It was found that the measures were acceptable for national studies of physical activity levels (IPAQ 4 Group, 2002). For this reason, elements of it will be used in this project to record participation levels in Physical Education for this population.

Data Analysis:

Themes:

Gender- Gender is seen regarding females as the project is based on female participation levels.
Physical Education- This is seen as the project measures participation levels in Physical Education.
Segregation- This is seen as the project proposes splitting genders in Physical Education classes to raise female participation levels.
Wellbeing- This is seen as the survey asks about wellbeing levels.
Physical Activity- This is seen as the survey measures Physical Activity levels.
Enjoyment- This is seen as the survey measures enjoyment levels.

The qualitative method ensures that the data collected is objective, quantifiable, easily interpreted, and summarized. The quantitative method ensures that bias does not affect the data in any way. The analysis will begin by identifying the scales as ordinal as this will determine the organization of data. There will then be a summary of results through the use of descriptive statistics which include percentages, mediums, modes, frequencies, etc. Inferential statistics will also be utilized to analyze variants and examine correlations between variables. The collection of data will be carried out via Google Docs Forums. The data collected will then be examined using descriptive statistics. To summarize the differences between male and female participants, a two-way contingency table will be used. MANOVA software will be 5 utilized to investigate the results. The MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) is a form of multivariate analysis used to analyze data that involves more dependent variables at a time. MANOVA allows for the testing of hypotheses regarding the effect of one or more independent variables on two or more dependent variables. Therefore, it is considered most appropriate for the study and its research. The analysis of the data will be descriptive to give meaning to the statistical findings. This will enable a simpler, more comprehensive interpretation of results. Both measures of central tendency and spread will be used for the description of data. The use of graphs, charts, and tables in addition to statistical discussion will be used to clarify the data further.

Outcomes:

The outcomes of this survey are to understand if and why students did or did not enjoy or participate in Physical Education during secondary school. It will highlight if gender separation in Physical Education is suitable and if it would be a tool in raising females’ participation levels in Physical Education.

Ethics:

The research shall adhere to the ethical principles of the university Ethics Committee (UEC) to support the reliability, validity, and integrity of the findings. Before the commencement of the research project, the participants will be provided with an informed consent form and reserve the right to withdraw at any time. All subjects of the study will be ensured full confidentiality and will remain anonymous throughout the entire process. Throughout the paper, acknowledgment of studies and the work of others will be referenced accordingly. The project objectives and aims will be as honest and transparent as possible and the analysis and discussion of the study will be of high objectivity to ensure ethical standards are maintained (Bryman & Bell, 2003)With specific regard to quantitative and qualitative methods, there will be certainly that the results are not changed to come to particular conclusions.

Limitations:

There are several limitations of this study. The primary limitation is the unknown sample size, which may limit the identification of the results at the end of this project. In the future, a more solid sample size would provide more data for a more accurate and in-depth analysis. The data may be considered subjective due to self-assessment by participants and bias. This may alter or affect the results however, by establishing good rapport and trust with the target group, this may be prevented (Blaikie, 2003). Due to time constraints, the timeframe for the study is limited to cross-sectional, this will mean there is little time to reach into many communities to obtain a diverse range of results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this research design establishes its process and objectives. The target groups and context are clearly outlined. The research approach is explained and evaluated. The data collection and analysis are discussed with appropriate detail thus, providing a core process for the course of the study. Finally, the research design evaluates the ethical considerations and limitations.

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