I Dry Run: Data Gathering
10:42 PM
The previous week, our class was
given the task of gathering a group of 18-24 years old physically inactive
individuals to prepare us for data gathering on our own thesis in the near
future. To start off, we defined physically inactive individuals as those
people who don’t exercise for at least 3 times per week for 30 minutes per
session. To remove gray areas in our research, we didn’t include individuals
who just started exercising within the past 3 months. Our research design
includes the following: PAR-Q, a questionnaire provided by our professors, an
interview, and a physical test. For this post, I would be sharing the things
that came to mind while the interview process was going on.
The subjects that I chose are
close family members and friends, which made the interview aura informal and
comfortable that it seems like we are just chatting about random things like we
normally do. Informal as it may seem, I was still able to get ample data and
information regarding my subjects’ own definition of fitness, which is what
matters most in our research. Our class came up with three general questions
that would lay down that interview process: 1.) How fit do you think you are?
2.) Why did you say so? 3.) What is your definition of fitness? From these three
questions, I was able to come up with additional questions and lengthen the duration
of the interviews as my subjects had a lot to say regarding their fitness level
and fitness, in general. At first, my subjects were hesitant with their answers
because they felt like “they were being judged,” which was a phrase I quoted
from one of my subjects. As the interview process went on the general idea that
came to mind was that they think of themselves as fit. Fit in the sense that
they are able to do daily living activities such as walking the dogs, going up
and down the stairs all the time, walking in heels, etc. with much efficiency
and little difficulty. However, when I asked them to place themselves in a
sports setting, they then start to think that they would probably experience a
little difficulty in that area. My subjects also don’t have a regular physical
activity routine as they are university students and professionals, which is
why they have a hard time inserting a regular physical activity routine in
their schedule. From the interviews, I also observed that my subjects view
fitness not just something physical but physical, mental, and emotional
well-roundedness of the body and mind. They would often include eating healthy
and mental/emotional relaxation as a component of being fit. At the end of the day, I think
that my interviews went really well. My subjects were really comfortable and they
were just being themselves during the whole process thus they were able to
share most, if not all, their thoughts, which became really helpful for me in
extracting more information from them.
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