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Chapter 4 STUDY ONE ——o— This section provides an overview of the methods used for Study One. For readers’ convenience, the first research question is repeated below. RQ1 What extramural English activities do Hungarian secondary school EFL learners engage in? For the first study, semi-structured interviews were chosen as the method for investigating Hungarian secondary school students’ EE interests because, as Sundgvist and Sylvén (2016: 157) explain, semi-structured interviews are “the best way to get to know one’s students and what they do and appreciate in their extramural lives.” Furthermore, in order to explore and collect as much data as possible about a previously unknown domain as well as obtain insights into Hungarian secondary school students’ EE interests, the qualitative research paradigm was chosen. The EE interests of secondary school students may be an unknown field for researchers; therefore, a qualitative research design may prove useful because it can provide rich data for a start and for further (quantitative) investigation (Richards—Morse 2013). Also, qualitative interview studies do not “limit the depth and breadth of the respondent’s story” (Dörnyei 2007: 120), allowing for the exploratory nature of the study at this stage. 4.1 PARTICIPANTS Study One aimed to examine Hungarian secondary school students’ EE interests. For the recruitment of the participants, purposive sampling was used since the qualitative nature of this study was not concerned with the representativeness of the sample acquired but, rather, aimed to find individuals and participants who could provide rich and varied data (Johnson—Christensen 2019). Therefore, my professional acquaintances working in secondary education in Hungary were asked to refer me to some of their potential secondary school students who they thought were engaging heavily in EE activities.
