Adapted Physical Education The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly. The purpose of this study was to determine the training needs and the duties and responsibilities of paraeducators in the field of physical education. Behind the obvious reason for the study -- reviewing what paraeducators need to know and why they need to know the important aspects of physical education in public schools -- the point is made (in many contexts) that too few paraeducators are sufficiently trained and prepared for the important work they are asked to do.

How was the study conducted (Who were the participants? What did the participants do?)

The researchers sent a questionnaire out to 138 paraeducators in 34 schools in the Midwest. The researchers (Davis, et al., 2007) only received 55.1% cooperation as they got back 76 completed questionnaires. Those 76 respondents were asked to answer questions honestly so the data could be used to help understand what is the current situation with paraeducators working with challenged students in physical education programs.

In preparing the questionnaires, the researchers (authors of this article) were meticulous in making sure the questions would be the best possible questions, and that they would solicit answers that truly reflected the views of the participants and would challenge the participants to provide ultimately the most valid material possible in their responses.

The researchers were very thorough in the actual preparation of the questionnaire; clearly it is vitally important to get professional educators'...

With that in mind, the researchers sent the edited first draft of the questionnaire to eight public school teachers for their input and evaluation of the quality of the questions. Three of the teachers were physical education teachers and five were special education teachers. Basically the researchers were given a questionnaire to help prepare for the final questionnaire.
The teachers were asked to review the final draft from the researchers "…using a 14-point modified validity rating form," and responses to the 14 items were "…measured using a 5-point Likert type scale" (Davis, 74). The teachers were asked to respond to the questions using the following categories: "strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree" (Davis, 74). The validity of the questionnaire was fully supported by the teachers -- which was important to the researchers prior to sending out the questionnaires to the paraeducators -- based on the following responses across all 14 items they were asked to critique.

Was the stated purpose clear enough? (100% of the teachers agreed strongly). Were the questions "clear and concise"? (88% agree or agree strongly). Was the terminology correct? (75% agreed or strongly agreed). Were the questions easy to follow, were they not to wordy, were they clear, were they unbiased, were they concrete and not confusing, were they not "cluttered…