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. 2019 Oct 7;12(1):18–33. doi: 10.1080/2159676X.2019.1673470

Table 1.

Data collection methods.

Method Description of the Method
Participatory Class Activities
(n = 236, age = 13–15, m = 101, f = 135)
Young people worked in groups of 4–5 members, that were self-selected to support engagement in discussions. Each group completed a series of activities presented to them in an iBook. Data were acquired from 2 activities. Class Questionnaires (n = 236; m = 101, f = 135, age = 13–15): Each group watched a 2-minute video created by the researchers on current statistics of health-related social media use. Young people then individually completed a questionnaire, in the form of a leaflet. The class questionnaire was closed/open ended and was composed of 5 questions related to their uses of social media. Mean percentages were calculated for closed questions. Open-ended questions were categorised inductively and mean percentages were then calculated in relation to each category. Digital Pin Board (n = 53; m = 22, f = 29, mixed = 2 age = 13–15): A Pinterest digital pinboard was co-constructed with 10 young people during a pilot study on different types of health-related images and videos available on social media. From this process 55 images/videos were selected grouped into 11 categories: female body image, workouts, clean eating, sleep/mental wellbeing, motivation, physical activity, campaigns, male body image, governing body advice, commercial brands and celebrities. Inter- and intra- reliability tests were completed to confirm categorisation. A level of 85% was deemed appropriate (van der Mars 1989) and reached before the pinboards were used. In phase 2, each group was asked to either keep or delete the images. In turn, the pinboards provided data on the categories of health-related material young people attend to and would use. Mean percentage were calculated on the categories kept across all groups.
Focus Group Interviews
(n = 84; age = 13–15, m = 35 f = 49)
19 focus group interviews (20–40mins) were conducted in the same groups from the class activities of 4–5 members. Two groups per class were interviewed (where possible). Groups were selected on the basis of offering a balanced sample on the health-related material young people access/attend to across the 10 schools and gender. Elicitation techniques were firstly used to encourage young people to discuss their pinboard. Semi-structured questions were then used to understand young people’s experiences of social media, and were common across all groups. The interviews complemented data obtained from the class activities