Interviews

Qualitative interviews were selected as the most appropriate method to address the research questions and initial theories were developed around which elements of The Daily Mile were related to successful implementation.[13] Three semi-structured interview schedules were then developed. One for the retired head teacher who initiated The Daily Mile, one for the schools who reported currently having The Daily Mile and one for schools for whom implementation had proved more challenging. The schedules were developed to address the key research questions but contained some variation depending on whether the implementation of The Daily Mile had been considered successful or not. Questions included; what is a typical day at their school; why they started The Daily Mile; how it was implemented at the school; what barriers they faced; and its perceived benefits. Initial interview schedules were developed by GR and reviewed and edited by TG. GR conducted all interviews and kept detailed field notes pertaining to the schools context (e.g., details about the school grounds, number of children, number of classes, school postcode). Initial analytical thoughts were written up after each interview as is standard practice in qualitative interviews.[13, 14]