CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The most important component in any research is the construction of a well defined

methodology. By and large, the entire process is guided by a set of rules and tools set forth

in the beginning itself. The present Chapter describes the research methodology adopted

for the conduct of the study such as the various processes involved in the collection,

analysis and interpretation of the data.

3.1. Research Design

A before-after experimental design with control was adopted for the present study.

The particular design was selected because the study involved a pre assessment of the

dependant variables in two matched groups, an intervention for one of the randomly

selected groups and a post assessment of the same variables in both the groups. The

dependant variables under study were:

 The respondent’s knowledge regarding sex and sexuality

 Their attitude towards sex and sexuality

 Their body image perception and

 Self esteem.

A pedagogical intervention in sex and sexuality was the independent variable and

the impact of the intervention on the dependant variables formed the total study.

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3.2. Objectives of the Study

Major objective of the study was to assess the impact of teaching interventions on

sex and sexuality among adolescent school girls.

The specific objectives of the study are:

1. To assess the knowledge of adolescent school girls regarding sex and sexuality

2. To study the attitude of adolescent school girls towards sex and sexuality

3. To assess the body image perception of the adolescent school girls

4. To assess the self esteem of the adolescent school girls

5. To design an intervention package on sex and sexuality education for adolescent

school girls

6. To assess the impact of the intervention package on the knowledge, attitude,

body image perception and self esteem of adolescent school girls

3.3. Hypotheses

1. The experimental (intervention) group will have significantly better knowledge

regarding sex and sexuality than the control (comparison) group after intervention

2. Pedagogical interventions in sex and sexuality will inculcate positive attitude

towards sex and sexuality among the experimental group.

3. Body image perception will improve significantly with pedagogical interventions in

sex and sexuality

4. Self esteem improves significantly with pedagogical interventions in sex and

sexuality

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 5. Pedagogical interventions in sex and sexuality will lead to attitudinal change in the

following dimensions of sex and sexuality:

(a) Attitude towards pre and extra marital relationships,

(b) Attitude towards menstruation,

(c) Attitude towards sex education,

(d) Attitude towards sexual expressions and experiences and

(e) The general attitude towards sexuality.

6. There is a significant correlation between knowledge of the respondents and their

attitude towards sex and sexuality.

7. There is a significant correlation between the knowledge on sex and sexuality and

self esteem.

8. An adolescent with a healthy body image perception will have better self esteem.

9. There is a significant correlation between attitude towards sex and sexuality and self

esteem.

3.4. Definitions of Concepts

3.4.1. Adolescence

Adolescence is defined as a phase of life characterized by rapid physical growth

and development, social and psychological changes, maturity, sexual maturity,

experimentation, development of adult mental processes and a move from the earlier

childhood socio-economic dependence towards relative independence (Report of the

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Working Group on Adolescents for the Tenth Five Year Plan Planning Commission

Government of India, 2000).

In the present study, adolescence refers to late adolescence spanning from 15 to 19

years of age.

3.4.2. Adolescent

An individual aged between 10-19 years of chronological age is termed as

adolescent (WHO).

In the present study, adolescent refers to a girl between the age group of 15 and 17

years, studying in the higher secondary schools run by the State Government.

3.4.3. Pedagogy

Pedagogy, the art or science of being a teacher generally refers to strategies of

instruction, or a style of instruction. The word comes from the Ancient Greek paidagōgeō

which means “to lead the child” (Lovat, 2003).

In the present study, Pedagogy refers to various teaching methods such as lectures,

group discussions, role plays and games supported by various audio-visual aids such as

charts, over head slides and power point presentations which were used to impart sexuality

education.

3.4.4. Intervention

Intervention is defined as an influencing force or act that occurs in order to modify

a given state of affairs. In the context of behavioural health, an intervention may be any

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outside process that has the effect of modifying an individual's behaviour, cognition, or

emotional state (Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders).

In this study, Intervention refers to the 12 sessions provided for the adolescent girls

on sex and sexuality related topics like physical and psychological changes during

adolescence, body image and self-esteem in adolescence, interpersonal relationship,

reproductive system, menstruation and menstrual hygiene, conception and child birth,

sexual health, sexual abuse, sexually transmitted disorders, etc.

3.4.5. Sex

Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and

women (WHO, 2007).

In the present study, sex refers to the physical characteristics which differentiate

between male and female.

3.4.6. Sexuality

Sexuality is regarded as the ability to have sexual feelings, involving a person’s

feelings about the self, self-esteem, body image, ability to relate sexually to others, and

ability to communicate such feelings- thus giving an identity and acknowledgement to the

sexual nature of a being (Foucault, 1975).

Sexuality refers to the total sexual makeup of an individual covering physical

aspects, attitudes and values with preference (Mawar, 1998).

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 Specific to this study, sexuality refers to the respondents’ knowledge, attitude and

practices related to sex and sexuality among adolescent girls.

3.4.7. Knowledge

Knowledge is defined as the expertise and skills acquired by a person through

experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject (Oxford

English Dictionary).

In the present study, Knowledge refers to information regarding like physical and

psychological changes during adolescence, body image and self-esteem in adolescence,

interpersonal relationship, reproductive system, menstruation and menstrual hygiene,

conception and child birth, sexual health, sexual abuse, sexually transmitted disorders, etc

3.4.8. Attitude

Attitude is defined as a predisposition to respond in favourable or unfavourable

manner with respect to a given attitude object (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975).

Attitude on sex and sexuality has the following dimensions viz. six major sub

dimensions like attitude towards pre and extra marital relationships, attitude towards

menstruation, attitude towards sex education, attitude towards body image, attitude

towards sexual behaviour and experiences and general attitude towards sexuality.

3.4.9. Self esteem

Self esteem is a positive or negative orientation towards one self; an overall

evaluation of one’s worth or value. It is the totality of an individual’s thoughts and feelings

with reference to himself or herself as an object (Rosenberg, 1965).

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 In this study, self-esteem refers to positive or negative evaluation of the

respondents regarding themselves as measured by the Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale which

is a 10-item self-report measure of global self-esteem. It consists of 10 statements related

to overall feelings of self-worth or self-acceptance. The items are answered on a four-point

scales ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

3.4.10. Body Image Perception

Body image perception is how a person views his or her body, either positively or

negatively (Brick and Cooperman, 1986).

In the present study, body image refers to the perceptions of the respondents

regarding their physical appearance and attractiveness such as body proportion,

complexion and weight and body shape.

3.4.11. Sex education

Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education, is the process of

acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, intimacy

and relationships. It is also about developing young people’s skills so that they make

informed choices about their behaviour and feel confident and competent on acting on

these choices (Arora and Pandya 1998).

In the present study also sex education refers to is the process of acquiring

information and forming healthy attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, intimacy

and relationships help a person to develop skills to handle issues related to sexuality.

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3.4.12. School Children

In the present study, School Children refers to the girls between the age group of

15 and 17 years, studying in the Higher Secondary Schools run by the State Government.

3.4.13. Sexual behaviours

The term "sexual behaviour" can refer to any behaviour that involves a "sexual

response" of the body (Magnus Hirshfeld Archive for Sexology).

In the present study, sexual behaviour refers to activities such as sexual fantasies,

holding hands with a boy friend, romantic talks, hugging, kissing, caressing, masturbation

and sexual intercourse.

3.4.14. Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse includes any conduct of a sexual nature that abuses, humiliates,

degrades or otherwise violates the dignity of woman (Domestic Violence Act 2005).

Sexual abuse includes any conduct of a sexual nature that abuses, humiliates,

degrades or otherwise violates the dignity of woman such as eve teasing, obscene calls,

vulgar talks, staring at body parts, pinching, caressing, fondling, exhibitionism,

molestation, rape etc.

3.4.15. Socio demographic Profile

Profile is the outline or contour of the human face viewed from one side or a vivid

and concisely written sketch of the life and characteristics of a person (Webster’s

Dictionary).

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 In the present study, socio demographic profile includes the details of the

respondents such as age, education, ordinal position, religion, type of family, and details

regarding parents such as parental age, education, and occupation.

3.5. Universe of the Study

The universe of the study included all the adolescent girls studying in 11th standard

in the Government run higher secondary schools in the five Corporations in Kerala,

namely Calicut, Thrissur, Cochin, Trivandrum and Quilon.

Girls studying in 11th standard in the Government run higher secondary schools

were included as the respondents in the study due to the following reasons:

Firstly, having experienced puberty over a span of couple of years at least, they

would be in a better position to consolidate their information, opinions and experiences.

Further more, once the initial confusion of physiological changes are handled the focus on

self-esteem, body image etc. will emerge as serious concerns during this period.

Secondly, girls from plus one classes were selected because there will be a

uniformity in the subjects studied by the students till SSLC classes, hence it will not

contaminate the intervention planned.

Moreover, the access to information of any kind and facilities to improve / increase

knowledge are unevenly distributed in various socio-economic strata in any society/

Kerala. The schools in an urban corporation can be broadly divided into unaided

management schools offering CBSC syllabus with very high fee structure, Aided private

schools with relatively lesser fee and Government schools with nominal fee structure. It

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was felt that unaided public school would represent the upper class and the Aided private

school would be sought after by middle class by virtue of the fee charged by them

determining the affordability of the parent to enroll their wards there. The government

HSS will be accessed mainly by the lower socio-economic strata of the society whose

access to information and education will be limited. Hence the researcher has taken up the

Government schools.

3.5.1. Unit of the Study

The unit of study was a single adolescent girl studying in 11th standard in

Government Girls Higher Secondary in Corporations of Kerala.

3.6. Sampling

Multi-Stage Random Sampling was adopted as the sampling procedure in this

study.

The list of all Higher Secondary Schools in Thrissur Corporation was collected

from the District Education Office, Thrissur and from the source list of six Government

run Schools; the Govt. Model Girls Higher Secondary School was selected using Simple

Random Sampling.

The school has three divisions, one each in commerce, science and vocational

higher secondary. From these, two divisions, commerce and science were randomly

selected and the respondents studying in these two classes were fixed as the study group.

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 From the study group, using simple random sampling, one class was selected which

formed the experimental group (intervention group). Thus the 11th standard commerce

division students formed the experimental group and the science division was treated as the

control group for the purpose of the study.

3.7. Locale of the study

The geographical area of the study was the Government Model Girls’ Higher

Secondary School, (HSS) Thrissur. The school is located in the fourth Division of

Thrissur Corporation. The school was established in the year 1893 and is in existence for

more than hundred years. The school comes under the Administrative Jurisdiction of

Thrissur District Educational Officer.

Higher secondary classes were introduced in the school, in the year 2004 when

pre-degree courses were delinked from collegiate education. The higher secondary section

has three divisions, one each for science, commerce and vocational higher secondary

course. This school has staff strength of 14 and student strength of 240.

Girls studying in 11th standard commerce and science classes in the school formed

the group for the study.

3.8. Inclusion – Exclusion criteria

The following Inclusion – Exclusion criteria was adopted to finalize the sample.

3.8.1. Inclusion criteria

 Students aged between 15-17 years

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  Students staying with the family or relatives

 Students on roll attending classes regularly

 Students who are able to read and write Malayalam.

 Students who have attended all the intervention sessions.

3.8.2. Exclusion criteria

 Girls with chronic illnesses

 Girls who have attended any other classes on sex and sexuality related topic.

 Married girls

 Girls residing in child care institutions such as children’s homes, orphanages etc.

3.9. Tool of Data Collection

Tool for the data collection was divided into four parts.

3.9.1. First Part – A Structured Questionnaire

The first part of the tool consisted of a 62 item structured questionnaire to assess

the socio demographic profile, interpersonal relationship and interaction, sexuality related

knowledge and experience, and sexual behaviours and interests of the respondents.

Questions 1 to 15 were related to the socio-demographic factors of the respondents.

Question from 16 to 37 (22 questions) were related to the interpersonal relationships and

interests. Questions regarding membership and organizations, friendships, nature of

relationship with parents and friends etc. were included in this section. Questions from 38

to 53 (16 questions) were on sexuality related information. Questions from 54 to 62 (9

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questions) were related to sexual behaviour and experiences of the respondents. The 62-

Item questionnaire used for the study is given in Appendix 1

3.9.2. Second Part – Knowledge Inventory on Sex and Sexuality for Adolescent Girls

Second part of the tool consisted of an inventory to assess the knowledge of the

respondent regarding sex and sexuality. A knowledge inventory was constructed for this

purpose, validated and was used for the study. The knowledge inventory consisted of 50

items related to sex and sexuality such as physical and psychological changes during

adolescence, menarche, reproductive functions, sexually transmitted disorders, sexual

orientation, practices and sexual abuse. Malayalam version of the knowledge inventory

was used for the study. The details of the inventory are given in Chapter 4.

3.9.3. Third Part – A Scale on the Attitude of Adolescent Girls towards Sex and

Sexuality

An attitude scale was constructed for this purpose, validated and was used for

assessing the attitude of the respondents. The scale is a 58 item Likert type scale with

reliability 0.8152 and an intrinsic validity of 0.9028. The scale has 6 major sub-

dimensions namely attitude towards

 Pre and extra marital relationship,

 Menstruation,

 Sex education,

 Body image,

 Sexual behaviours, experiences and

 General attitude to sexuality.

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 Malayalam version of the attitude scale was used for the study. The details

regarding the tool are presented in the next chapter.

3.9.4. Fourth Part – Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, Morris. 1989. Society and the

Adolescent Self-Image) was used to assess the self esteem. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem

Scale is a 10-item self-report measure of global self-esteem. It consists of 10 statements

related to overall feelings of self-worth or self-acceptance. The items are answered on a

four-point scale ranging from strongly agrees to strongly disagree. To score the items;

assign a value to each of the 10 items as follows: For items 1, 2, 4, 6, 7: Strongly Agree=3,

Agree=2, Disagree=1, and Strongly Disagree=0. For items 3, 5, 8,9,10 strongly Agree=0,

Agree=1, Disagree=2, and Strongly Disagree=3.The scale ranges from 0-30, with 30

indicating the highest score possible, then scores will range from 10-40. In the present

study, values from 1-4 are assigned rather than 0-3 which is permissible.

3.9.4.1.Translation Validity

The English version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was translated to

Malayalam with the help of eight subject experts who knew both English and Malayalam.

The English version was administered on 60 school going girls. Further, the Malayalam

version was also administered on the same girls. The total scores were obtained for both

the English and Malayalam version. Karl Persons coefficient of correlation was calculated

for the total scores of these two versions and it was found that there exists a positive and

significant correlation between the scores of there two versions (r = 0.892, P< 0.05

significant). Thus the translation validity was calculated and found to be suitable.

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3.10. Intervention Package on Sex and Sexuality

An intervention package on sex and sexuality was prepared using the following

resource materials:

 Adolescent Education Programme (UNESCO 1991)

 Education in Human Sexuality – A source book for Educators, Dhun pantaki

(IPPF, 2005)

 Adolescent Education program (SCERT, 2006-07)

 Life skill education for plus two students (Child Development Centre,

Trivandrum 2005)

 Towards healthy adolescence (VHAI 2002)

The draft intervention package consisted of 11 sessions covering various aspects of

sex and sexuality.

3.10.1. Topic Finalization

The draft intervention package was discussed with higher secondary school

teachers, parents of the adolescent school girls and the girls themselves.

Teachers unanimously agreed on all the topics included in the draft module. They

also expressed the opinion that a package on sex and sexuality should include a module on

basic life skills which was later included.

During the discussion with parents, they expressed concern that sex education of

such kind will instill sexual curiosity among their wards .The researcher had to convince

the parents that it is a misconception. Repeated interactions with the researcher, her social

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position as a college teacher and counselor and the assurance of the Principal of the School

regarding the authenticity of the researcher helped them to overcome their anxiety.

The final intervention package on sex and sexuality consisted of 12 sessions:

1. Introduction to the intervention package

2. Adolescence psychological changes

3. Interpersonal relationships during adolescence

4. Physical changes during adolescence and male, female reproductive systems

5. Body image perception in adolescence

6. Self esteem in adolescents girls

7. Life skills for adolescent girls

8. Menarche, menstrual hygiene

9. sexual and reproductive health

10. The beginning of life – conception, pregnancy, and delivery

11. Sexual abuse

12. Sexually transmitted infections – HIV/AIDS

The general methodology used for the intervention sessions were lectures, group

discussions, question-answer sessions, brain storming, role plays, games, charts and

posters. The detailed description of the package is given in Appendix-2

3.11. Collection of Data

The pre assessment was done for both the experimental group and control group

simultaneously. Intervention was provided to the experimental group which consisted of

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54 girls studying in the commerce group. The period of intervention was five months

starting from September 2007 to January 2008. The intervention sessions were provided

once a week with duration of two and a half hours. A total of 12 sessions were conducted

with the experimental group. The resource persons for the sessions included professionals,

nursing tutors, gynecologists, social workers and counselors and the research scholar

herself.

Post assessment was done one month after the last session. From the experimental

group and control group, four respondents were dropped out of the study since they could

not attend all the sessions.

3.12. Analysis of Data

The data analysis was predominantly done using the Statistical Package for Social

Sciences, Version 10.0 (SPSS 10.0). Percentage analysis was done for the socio-

demographic data, the data related to interpersonal relationships, sex and sexuality related

information and experiences. Chi-square test was used to test the homogeneity of the

control and experimental groups with respect to age, parental details, ordinal position, and

type of family and religion of the respondents. Descriptive statistics like frequency tables

and diagrams are used to present this data as well as the levels of knowledge, attitude and

self esteem. Tests like independent t-test, paired t-test and correlation were used to test the

hypotheses proposed in the study.

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3.13. Limitations and Justification

The study was conducted among urban population only and the results are expected

to hold good for the entire population. But since the urban and rural population in Kerala

are not grossly different, the findings of the study can be applied to all the population in

Kerala.

3.14. Ethical Consideration

The respondents were informed in detail regarding the study and their consent was

obtained before the study. Confidentiality was strictly observed on the responses. Control

group was also provided with the intervention package once the study was completed.

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