Materials and Method
This study employed a qualitative approach and respondents were selected by a convenience sampling. A qualitative was done because it relies on the opinion of individuals; ask broad, general questions and data collection consists large of words or texts (Creswell, 2005). For this study, in-depth interviews were used as other methods such as questionnaires or observational analysis alone would not produce the in-depth information and perception about the food handlers’ inner thoughts and feelings. The study was conducted in two stages and the results were compiled to obtain a rich data. The first stage was carried out between the periods of May – August 2010; while the second stage was between May – August 2011. A total of 25 food handlers who were working at 12 selected primary schools in Klang Vallley area were willing to participate and to be interviewed. Of the 25 food handlers, 10 participants from 4 schools were interviewed in the first stage and the remaining 15 respondents from 8 schools participated in the second stage of the study. Prior to the interview, the respondents were given a full clarification about the research and confirmed the information gathered was solely for the purpose of the study. The interviewed were conducted in Mandarin and were recorded on digital recorder. The in-depth interviews were conducted based on a set of questions which consisted of three parts. Part A was about demographic characteristics, Part B was on food handlers’ food hygiene knowledge and lastly Part C asked questions related to food hygiene practices of the food handler associated with hand washing and glove use. The interviews session was taken about 30 minutes at the food handlers’ preferred place. Finally, the interviews data were translated to English by using a reserve translation and transcribed manually.