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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES
teachers. Reliability in guantitative research refers to whether the item scores
of an instrument are internally consistent, meaning the item responses are
consistent across constructs (Creswell—Creswell 2018); it is the quantitative
counterpart of dependability. In order to ensure reliability in the quantitative
studies (questionnaires), the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated to
ensure the reliability of the questionnaires; in addition, earlier theoretical and
validated empirical studies were also consulted, and certain constructs were
adopted from these empirical studies. Last but not least, objectivity in quan¬
titative research refers to what extent the analysis is affected by the research¬
er’s personal beliefs and feelings (Cohen et al. 2018); this is the quantitative
counterpart of confirmability. Objectivity was ensured by involving external
researchers in the research at the stage when the obtained results were inter¬
preted.
3.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Ethical issues concerning this research project include the problem of the
amount of shared information about the research, the anonymity of the par¬
ticipants, the issue of potentially sensitive information, data storage, and the
consent of students’ parents and teachers to participate in the research (Cohen
et al. 2018, Dörnyei 2007).
Firstly, the issue of the amount of shared information was addressed. It is
important to share some information with the participants about the research
project; however, too little shared information is unethical, and too much
information shared could result in response bias or non-participation. Ihere¬
fore, participants were informed about the purpose ofthe study and its signif¬
icance with the possible pedagogical pay-off, too.
Another important aspect was to ensure the anonymity of the participants
throughout the whole research project (Cohen et al. 2018). The questionnaires
were anonymous, and pseudonyms were used in the interview study so that
the identity of the participants could not be traced back. A closely related issue
was the handling of the collected data. The voice recordings with their tran¬
scripts were stored on a separate USB stick to which only I had access. The
data was stored until June 2022; then, the USB stick was formatted, i.e., all
information was deleted. Any sensitive information I learned about the par¬
ticipants in the research process is kept confidential in the future as well and
will not be shared with a third party.
Last but not least, Study Two was conducted with secondary school students
but was a questionnaire study; therefore, there was no need for individual
parental consent as the data to be collected were not sensitive (cf. Johnson—
Christensen 2019). However, headmasters and form teachers were consulted,
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