EDRD 812

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT EVALUATION SCALE

Name:_______Ryan Bradshaw_____________________________________

1. Did the paper have a sound conceptual rationale and relevant research questions?
To a great extentX.to a limited extent
Provides background on the project related to exploring barriers to off-campus students
use of on-campus recreational facilities
Shares extensive relevant statistics of use and demographics related to recreation
facilities on campus for University Life department; explains how these data are used as a
part of work responsibilities and they form the basis of the exploratory study; rationalizes
further study of recreation facility use, especially since extant data show that off-campus
students are not using the facilities at an expected level
Cites interesting sources from the literature that demonstrate positive outcomes for
students who use these types of facilities, such as higher GPAs, which then correlate with
retention rates for students, and a greater sense of belonging to the broader university
community than students who do not use on-campus recreation facilities
Summarizes a quantitative study conducted by Masons Recreation Director that explored
barriers to students engaging in regular fitness activity and found the data suggestive
enough to inspire the qualitative research project for this class
Leads to research questions for the qualitative study focusing on barriers to using the
recreational facilities, particularly for female students, since this was the largest group in
the quantitative study not taking advantage of these facilities
I could not find a clearly stated research question, though you state the motivation for the
study was to explore the lived experience of off-campus students related to participation
in fitness activities with on-campus recreational facilities. I would have liked to see this
purpose turned into an overarching guiding research question.

2. Were the qualitative methods clearly explained and rigorous?

To a great extentX.to a limited extent
Characterizes the study as a form of phenomenology, which is appropriate to the methods
and goals of the research
Describes in appropriate detail the setting and participants, including the purposeful
selection of the 14 student participants, providing key statistics in chart form relative to
the studys purpose for each participant; I appreciate the creative way you generated
participation in your study, and incentives are often necessary for this purpose
Describes the settings for and conduct of what in effect was two focus groups and one
individual interview, since only one student showed up for the third focus group meeting;
in each case, the interviews were based on semi-structured prompts
Conducted one observation of a female student participant who took part in an oncampus walking event; hand-written notes were taken of this observation and later
digitized
Explains how data from four sets of data (two focus group interviews, one individual
interview, and one observation) were obtained through audio recordings, transcribed, and
then two rounds of open coded for themes

3. Were the findings adequately supported by relevant data?

To a great extentX.to a limited extent
Identifies 9 themes and provides ample evidence from the data in the form of direct
quotes from the participants to bolster the themes
Nine is a big number of themes for such a small research project; they really become
categories of issues for the participants and perhaps not really phenomenology themes; to
be themes, categories could be collapsed and labeled directionally; for instance several
relate to the issue of inconvenience, so one broad theme could be Access to on-campus
fitness facilities is inconvenient, or something like that
In the presentation, highlights two themes: the intimidation factor--exemplified, for
instance, by participants lack of knowledge of how to use the machines; and the social
factor as a motivatorhow a workout buddy or going with friends increased the chances
of participation in on-campus fitness activity

4. Was the discussion of the findings tied to research questions and include directions
for future research?
To a great extentX.to a limited extent
Ties discussion of barriers identified by student participants to potential solutions
Offers specific analysis of the findings related to female students by foregrounding the
real issues of intimidation as well as the power of peer pressure
Appropriately identifies some limitations of the research related principally to the
recruitment approaches, since students who do not engage in fitness activities may have
systematically avoided participation in the survey and the focus groups
Proposes interesting areas for further inquiry into this issue by having participants
maintain a workout log and studying the phenomenon at the high school level to explore
parallels with university level students
5. Did the presentation appropriately summarize all critical aspects of the qualitative
research project?
To a great extentX.to a limited extent
Adequately summarizes the motivation for the study, the researcher role, methods, data
analysis and findings; also includes directions for future researcher

Ryan,
An interesting research report and presentation on a highly worthwhile phenomenon. The
methods and analysis were a helpful first attempt to approach the study of the issue using
qualitative analytics. The issue is complex enough to merit rich mixed-methods inquiry, so
I would urge you to continue to take advantage of qualitative approaches to compliment
the extant quantitative data about students use of recreational facilities on campus.
Furthermore, your research stance was nimble enough to allow for the collection of data in
creative ways, which is entirely consistent with an emerging design in qualitative work.
It has been a pleasure having you in class, and I appreciate all of your thoughtful
contributions to group activities and class discussion.
Dr. B.
74/75 points