Studying recruitment and retention in PETE: Qualitative and quantitative research methods

The preceding chapters of this monograph have served to situate the study of physical education teacher education recruitment and retention within relevant literature and theory. This chapter outlines the sequential explanatory design methods, whereby participants in an online survey were selected using stratified random sampling to participate in follow-up interviews. The chapter opens with an overview of participant identification and recruitment. Participants were program coordinators drawn from a database that included contact information for physical education teacher education faculty members working at colleges and universities across the United States. Next, the participants in the quantitative and qualitative elements of the study are described, with attention to both individual and institutional factors. Survey design and content validity are discussed, as well as the development of a qualitative interview guide. The chapter concludes with a discussion of quantitative and qualitative data analysis strategies used to support the results presented in the subsequent chapters.