Gender differences in high school students’ interests in physics

Research Design
Qualitative research analysis model was used in this study. “The process of qualitative research is largely inductive, with the inquirer generating meaning from the data collected in the field” (Creswell, 2003).

Participants
The study sample consists of a total of 154 students, 76 female and 78 male. The participants were students from two high schools during the 2014-2015 academic years. The students were selected based on their accessibility at the time of the study.

Data collection instruments
Structured interview form aimed at determining the interest towards physics was used as the data collection instrument in the study. A pilot study was conducted initially for the data collection instrument in the study. The questions, which were prepared by the researcher concerning the interest towards physics, were directed to the students taking education in various high schools and grades. Open, clear and efficacious questions were determined according to the pilot study findings that were examined by the researcher and another faculty member. In order to determine reliability and validity of the data collection instrument, the draft form was examined by two researchers and presented to field education and Turkish grammar experts for their opinions. Questions which were come to agreement upon remained in the instrument and the other questions were eliminated. Thus, the number of questions in the data collection instrument was four. With these processes, the validity and reliability of the data collection tool were achieved.

Data Collection and Analysis
Required permissions were obtained from the Provincial Directorate for National Education for both the pilot study and this study. The researcher contacted the officials and classroom teachers working in the schools where the study was conducted. Students were given a one hour class time to answer the interview form. A total of 170 interview forms were completed but 16 which were reported as inappropriate were not included in the study. In this study the data were collected and evaluated with the structured interview technique, one of the qualitative research methods. An interview form with four questions was prepared to determine the interest of participants towards physics and the factors which affected these interests. The data resulting from the statements in the interview forms were analyzed through a content analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, and through a frequency analysis and a chi-square independence test with the SPSS 20 software. The content analysis was conducted both by the researcher and a faculty member. Comparisons between the researchers of different studies were carried out. Reliability of the study was tested after these comparisons. The reliability evaluation method [Reliability=Consensus/(consensus+dissensus)] introduced by Miles and Huberman (1994) was used to test the study’s reliability. Reliability of the study was reported to be 90%. Studies with reliability rates over 70% are accepted as reliable (Miles and Huberman, 1994).