Running

Head: Qualitative Data

RCLS 425: Evaluation in Recreation and Leisure

Phase III
Caitlyn Southerland, Chase Wharton, Cole Groche, Tasha Luu
June 3rd, 2015

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Methodology
In order to gather data that was not already determined in the focus group we used themes
from the focus group to generate our survey questions. Here is a list of the themes that we
focused on for our survey.
Youth:

Supportive
Organized sports
Parental Influence
Parents

College Students:

Health
Resources
Opportunity
Emotionally

We picked these themes because we felt these were the most important aspects of the focus
group that we wanted to focus on for the survey. As a group we all coded different parts of the
transcription. We then came together and addressed what we still needed to gather to complete
our research. We also wanted to ask questions that were important to have backup support for.
After we evaluated all aspects of the research we came up with important questions to ask the
RCLS 425 students. In appendix A the full survey will be displayed.
The final product of our survey ended up being 13 questions total with a variety of
different types of questions. The majority of our questions consisted of demographic, selfassessment, and likert scale questions. The demographic questions determined the age and the
gender of the participants that provided us with specific answers. The second style of questions,
were self-assessment questions which gave the survey participants the option to answer yes or no
and in come cases chose what applied to them. These questions provided us with specific

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answers that applied to the individual. Both demographic and self-assessment questions provided
us with specific answers that applied to that individual. The last style of questions, were likert
scale questions. The RCLS students had the choices of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree,
and strongly agree for the likert scale questions. We asked this type of questions because it
determined whether the participant agreed with our question or statement. Likert scale questions
also allowed us to gather the most descriptive statistics. The reason we chose these types of
questions was to give us an overall measurement of the research we are trying to collect data on.
Of the different styles of questions we were able to generate different levels of data from
each questions. One level of data is nominal level data, which is the lowest type of data
(Henderson, 2010, p. 216). Nominal level data defines a distinct category that does not overlap
(Henderson, 2010, p. 216). Both demographic questions and several of the self-assessment
questions we could collect nominal level data. Nominal level data allows us to collect both
frequency and mode of the data. All of the likert scale questions were treated as interval level
data. With interval level data we are able to collect all of the descriptive statistics (Henderson,
2010, p.262). The last level of data we used was ordinal level data. The questions that allowed
us to collect this level of data was some of the self-assessment questions that involved picking
what applied most to them (Henderson, 2010, p. 262). We were able to collect most of the
descriptive statistics with ordinal level data. The levels of data we are using allow us to calculate
statistical information that will be used in our research.
To allow are survey to flow well and lead into each question we organized our survey a
particular way. The questions started with asking about the RCLS 425 students recreation as a
youth then lead into questions about recreation as a college student. We felt this was the best way
to organize are survey. In order to make the survey visually appealing we spaces out each

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question and capitalized important parts of the questions that the individual should be aware of.
By spacing each question it helped make the survey not look crammed and eliminate the
possibility of the individual missing a question. Due to the spacing and the number of questions
the survey was longer then one page. We decided that making the survey front and back was
ideal for the situation the RCLS 425 students are put in. Considering all of the previous
statements we felt this was the best way to organize our survey.
The focus group and the survey generate and gather different forms of data collection.
The survey, which is quantitative data allowed us to collect descriptive statistics to support our
research. The purpose of descriptive statistics is to describe and summarizes different
characteristics of the data (Henderson, 2010, p. 270). Descriptive statistics is a univariate and
include calculating frequency counts, percentages, mode, median, mean, variance and standard
deviation (Henderson, 2010, p. 270). Using the focus group to generate our survey questions
allowed us to analysis the findings and come up with a conclusion for our research.
Analysis and Findings
The demographics of RCLS 425 in age are expressed in the table below. The level of data
collected is nominal. (Table 1)

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The table above shows that out of the 48 participants the mode or most frequent age is 21 and 22.
The demographics of RCLS 425 in Gender are expressed in the table below. The level of data
collected is nominal. (Table 2)

Table 2 shows that the most frequent gender that took the survey was females at 63 percent.
Table 3 shows the results of the question Did your parents have an impact on your recreation as
a youth? This question was answered using likert scale 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being
strongly agree. The level of data is interval.

The graph below also depicts what is in Table 3. The level of data is interval. (Graph 1)

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Graph 1.

Parents In*luence on Youth

Recreation
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

26
14
1
Strongly
Disagree

2
Disagree

5
Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

Both Table 3 and Graph one show the same data just in a different way. The numbers on the
table 1 through 5 correspond to 1 being strongly disagree, 2 being disagree, 3 being neutral, 4
being agree, and 5 being strongly agree. The data determined that the most frequent was agree.
The numbers on the graph tell the specific number of participants that chose each one.

Graph 2 below consists of the results from an interval question that asked the RCLS students
Do you believe that your parents have an influence on your recreation as a college student?.
The level of data collected is interval.

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Graph 2.

Number of participents

Parents In*luence on College

Student Recreation
15
10
5
0
Strongly
disagree

Disagree

neutral

Agree

Strongly
agree

Mode= 3
Median= 2.5
Mean= 2.47
Graph 2 shows that most of the participants chose strongly disagreed, disagreed or did have an
opinion on the statement (neutral). This determines that people did not agree with the statement
parents have an influence on college students recreation. The standard deviation for this set of
data is 1.07. The mean for this data set is 2.47. Therefore the 68% of the scores for this data set
should fall between 1.4 and 3.54.
In graph 3 the results show the outcome of the question in what way are your parents involved
in your recreation as a college student. The graph shows the percentages of each option that was
chosen.

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Graph 3.

FInancially
10%

Parents involvement in
Recreation Now
Not
applicabe
29%
Emotionally
40%
Physically
21%

The graph above shows that leading involvement parents have is 40 percent emotional. The
second leading was individuals with no opinion.
Conclusion
After collecting the data and analyzing the results we came up with a variety of
conclusions about the RCLS 425 students parents influence on recreation. Several of the
questions from our survey allowed us to gather the information we needed to come to a
conclusion. The demographic questions shown in table 1 and table 2 told us that the majority of
RCLS 425 are females. The average age for the students is 21 and 22 years of age. There were
48 RCLS 425 students that took our survey.
The students in RCLS 425 agreed that their parents had an influence on their recreational
habits as a youth. The question on the survey that brought us to this conclusion was a likert scale
question and 26 participants agreed. This told us that the students believe that yes in fact their
parents had a significant influence in their recreation. The following question asked if they
believe their parents influence was positive. 85 percent of the participants said yes their parents
influence was positive. Both of their questions told us that parents can influence their children in

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a positive matter in their recreation habits and most of them do for the RCLS 425 students. Our
research supported Bruening, Dixson, and Warner (2008) that was addressed in phase one (pp.
539). In the survey we addressed questions about youth for the first set.
After the questions about youth we lead into questions about the students as Eastern
Washington University college students. Some of the questions generated a significant amount of
good information. After questions about youth and recreation we lead into questions that
involved current recreation as a college student. Two nominal level data questions determined
that the majority of RCLS students partake in recreation that they did as a youth as well as
introduced new recreational interests. 98 percent students said yes to both of those questions.
This data told us that youth recreation has an impact on future recreation. Due to the fact that the
majority of the students still partake in youth recreation. Parental influence in youth recreation is
not only important for the individuals youth but also their adult life as well.
Our ultimate research question was that we believe parents still have an influence on their
college students recreation. An interval level data question told us the opposite. Using the likert
scale one of our questions asked if the participants believed that their parents have an influence
on their recreation as a college student. 38 out of 48 students either circled strongly disagree,
disagree and neutral. Due to this response our research topic shifted slightly and we determined a
different aspect of parents involvement in college students recreation.
One of the last questions on our survey was an ordinal level data and it asked the
participants how their parents are involved in their recreation. The choices were not applicable,
emotionally, physically, and financially. 40 percent of RCLS 425 students said that their parents
played more of an emotional role in their recreation. In correlation with our qualitative data and
quantitative data our research shifted slightly. We now have come to the conclusion that parents

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do not influence their college students recreation but they are still involved in their recreation.
There are several ways that parents can be involved and some of those include emotionally,
physically, and financially. Emotionally involved means that the parents are more so
encouraging in their college students recreational habits. They can also express their concerns in
their recreational habits. The RCLS 425 students then get to choose whether they take their
parents thoughts into consideration.
Due to the fact that college student are now adults they have the right to make their own
decisions. Therefore parents dont have much influence on their recreation as a college student.
The fact that parents had a significant influence on their youths recreation and, because the data
showed that many students expressed that they still partake in recreation now that they did as a
youth, shows how significantly important a parents influence can be. In conclusion parents are
still involved in their childs recreation as a college student but they no longer hold a significant
influence on the RCLS 425 students.
Recommendations
Although our study generated good information we considered some recommendations
for future that can be considered. There are a variety of suggestions we have such as having a
larger data sample, having more even amounts of people taking the survey, and lastly editing our
survey to make it easier to read. If these recommendations we followed during our research we
would have gathered more viable data.
If we could survey more then just RCLS 425 students such as science majors, business
majors, and psychology majors along with others majors we believe our data would cover more
ground. We could generate consciences for Eastern Washington University students. The
majority of the survey was taken by females in fact over half were females this could have

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skewed are results. We feel as if the survey takers demographics were more even we could
gather better results. Lastly our survey questions were understandable although we could have
worked on bolding important parts of the question to pay attention too. For future research we
recommend incorporating these things to help make the data more valid and important to a larger
population then just RCLS 425 students.
From a literature aspect we have one recommendation for anyone who researches this
topic in the future. Our research was not supported by our findings but we did find that parents
are still involved in their college students recreational activities. We recommend that others
focus on the involvement of parents a recreation over parents influence as a college student.

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Appendix A
Group 14 Survey

Research Topic: To understand the relationship between your recreational pursuits and your
parents influence on those pursuits, comparatively, from youth to college age adulthood.
Please Contact the following group members with any questions or concerns involving the
following survey questions.
Caitlynn Southerland (360) 624-8636, Chase Wharton (509) 430-5987
1. Circle your gender.
Male
Female
2. What is your age?

______

3. In your youth were you involved in organized sports? (Ex. Football, Tennis, Soccer)
Yes
No
4. In your youth were you involved in outdoor recreational pursuits? (Ex. Hiking, Motocross,
Fishing)
Yes
No
5. Your parents had an influence on your choice of recreational pursuits in your youth.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
6. If you agreed or strongly agreed that your parents DID have an influence on your recreation as
a youth, do you feel it was a positive influence?
Yes
No
N/A
7. Do you, as a college student, still partake in any of the same recreational pursuits that you did
in your youth?
Yes
No
If yes, how many: ______
8. Have you, as a college student, introduced any new recreational activities into your lifestyle
that are different from those in your youth?
Yes
No
If yes, how many: ______
9. Do your past recreational activities have an influence on your current recreational activities?
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
10. As a college student, your parents have an influence on your recreational pursuits.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5

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11. Pertaining to question 10, in what ways are your parents involved in your recreation? (Circle
all that apply)
Not involved
Physically
Emotionally
Financially
12. Eastern Washington University provides adequate recreational opportunities.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
13. As a college student, what is the biggest influence on your recreational activities? (Circle the
ONE that applies most to you)
Time
Money
Health
Stress
Media
Adventure
Friends
Opportunities
Other_____________
Thank you for participating in our survey!

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References

Bruening, J. E., Dixon, M. A., Warner, S. M. & (2008). More than just letting them play:
Parental influence on women's lifetime sport involvement. Sociology of Sport Journal,
25(4), 538-559.
Henderson, K. A., & Bialeschki, M. D. (2010). Evaluating leisure services: Making enlightened
Decisions(3rd ed). State College, PA: Venture Publishing