Data Handling
When the data left the school, no names were associated with the surveys. All surveys were placed in a sealed envelope and stored in a locked desk drawer in the researcher‟s office during data analysis. Only the researcher and her adviser viewed the data and all data were held confidential. The data is being stored in a locked file at the researcher‟s institution for at least three years. After this time it may remain in a locked cabinet or be destroyed.
Once data had been collected, scores representing each variable were calculated, and then entered into a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. First the three psychosocial variable scores for each participant were calculated. One point was given for every “yes” answer and zero points were given for every “no” answer. The points for each respective variable were added together and divided by the total number of inventory items representing that variable. For inventories with missing information, the points for each respective variable were added together and divided by the total number of inventory items representing that variable of which the participant answered. In other words, the average was calculated for each of the three psychosocial variables being assessed which represented the score for that variable.
PA participation was assessed from two inventory items: (1) I participated in FC this year and (2) I participated in an organized PA outside of school like football, gymnastics, dance or swimming this year. By using two inventory items, Extracurricular PA Participation was categorized in three different ways. First, the data were categorized by the responses to inventory item number one, I participated in Fitness Club this year, resulting in two categories:
• Participation in FC
• No Participation in FC
Then, the data were categorized according to the responses for inventory item number two, I participated in an organized PA outside of school like football, gymnastics, dance or swimming this year, resulting in two categories:
• Participation outside of school • No participation outside of school
Last, the data were categorized by means of responses to inventory item numbers one and two which resulted in four possible categories:
• No participation
• Participation in FC only
• Participation outside of school only
• Participation in both FC and outside of school
A five-point Likert type scale was used when scoring Intention with a one representing “I am sure I will not be physically active” and five representing “I am sure I will be physically active”. Gender was scored with a two-category nominal scale. Lastly, BMI was treated as ordinal data and three levels were constructed based on the international categories for BMI: (1) underweight (BMI 25.0 kg·m-2). Only one participant had a BMI > 30.0 kg·m-2.