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Louel Hagos, Catherine Monsey and Stacey Bilte

Emily Messina
RCLS 425 Evaluation in Recreation and Leisure Services
June 2, 2014
Phase III: Survey Research Report
And
Final Recommendations

Appendix:
College Students and Recreation centers
College is a unique and life changing experience that holds many benefits and
foundations for the future. The college life not only prepares the student for a specific profession
but it also creates a strong base for future habits and lifestyles. While considering this we
determined that college students are not fully aware of the benefits that are associated with
regular attendance at Recreation centers on campus. After taking on a small group discussions,
the questions are based on what we heard from the group.
After conducting this research we hope to learn which students attend the Rec. centers
regularly, are they satisfied with the campus Rec center, what are the benefits they may have
noticed while attending the Rec center, what are their motivations or barriers for regular
attendance, will these habits continue after their college career has ended and what changes
could be made at the Rec center to encourage a greater student participation.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey from group 7. This survey should
only take about 5 minutes of your time. Your answers will be completely anonymous. If you
have any questions while taking this survey, please contact us at Lhagos@eagles.ewu.edu.
Opinion /Value /Attitude Questions
1) Have you ever considered leaving school?
O Yes

O No

2) If you have ever considered leaving school, what kept you motivated to continue?
Circle the most significant answer.
O a Teacher

O a Counselor

O Interest in your field

O Social connections O Other

O Not applicable

3) Do you find the Campus Rec center too crowded? Please circle the appropriate
response on the Likert Scale.
O Strongly disagree

O Disagree

O Neutral

O Agree

O Strongly agree

4) What would be the most significant motivator to regularly attend the Rec center?
Circle the response that is most significant to you.
O Physical fitness

O Social bonding

O Developing new skills

O Heath benefits

O Relieve stress

O Other

5) What are the top barriers that prevent you from regularly attending the Rec center?
Circle the response that is most significant to you.
O No time

O Too crowded

O Not living on campus

O Prefer to be outside

O No one to go with

O Not comfortable there

6) Are you satisfied with the Rec center? Please circle a response on the Likert scale.
O Strongly disagree

O Disagree

O Neutral

O Agree

O Strongly agree

Experience / Behavior Questions

7) Approximately how often do you go to the campus Rec center? Circle the
appropriate response.
O Never

O 2 times per week

O 5 times per week

O Every day

8) Have you tried something new at the Rec center?

O Yes

O No

9) What time of day do you go to the Rec center? Circle the approximate time.
O Morning

O Afternoon O Evening

O Night

Demographic Questions
Circle the appropriate response:
10) Gender:
O Male

O Female

11) Do you live:

O On campus

O Off campus

12) Please fill in your age:___________________

13) Do you work:
O Part time

O Volunteer more than 20 hours a week

O Full time

O Not employed

14) Are you a :

O Freshman

O Sophomore

O Junior

O Senior

15) What is your major?

O Therapeutic Recreation

O Outdoor Recreation

O Rec management

O Other

These questions are called closed ended questions and this type of question is utilized when
the researcher wishes to elicit specific responses which are provided for the respondents to
select in close-ended quantitative questions (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 143). This type
of question has several subtypes and these are called Likert scale, demographic, ordered closeended, and unordered responses. We used these particular styles to bring about particular data
and opinions.
We utilized several Likert scale questions since they are a particular kind of close-ended
question structure that uses a scaling system. Likert scales are most often used for attitude
measurement (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 145). We asked the participants of our
sample, the RCLS 420 EWU students to select an option titled strongly disagree, disagree,
neutral, agree or strongly agree. We used these types of questions in order to create a better
understanding of their overall attitude toward the Rec center.
We also used ordered close-ended questions which are used to measure participation rates
and opinions (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 144). These questions were designed to
gather data regarding the participants actual or approximate use of the Rec center on campus

and what time they prefer to attend the Rec center. Having this data would give us a better
understanding of the difference between users and non-users of the Rec center.
We also incorporated unordered responses into our survey. These questions were used to
collect yes or not responses. These questions are structures used with items that have no
particular value associated with them in the statistical analysis (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010,
pg. 144). We chose this type of question in order to draw quick responses from our sample that
would allow them to give definite answers.
Finally a section of our survey was comprised of demographic questions. These questions
are directed to elicit current personal characteristics such as age, major or living situation. We
asked these questions to give us a better and more direct understanding of the basic differences
between frequent users of the Rec center and non-users of the Rec center. Our survey was also
divided into three sections according to value or opinion, experience or behavior and
demographic to make the survey more clear and understandable for the participants.
Another major aspect of our survey was the type of date we were collecting, it could be
nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio. For this survey we gathered nominal and interval data.
Nominal data is categorical data that defines a distinct group and has no relative numeric value
(Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 379). Most of the questions were designed to collect this
type of data. The numeric values attached to the nominal data are merely identifiers that allow
the responses to be counted for later analysis (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 261).
Interval data result when the ordered categories have meaningful and predictable size
differences or distances between values (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 263). The two
Likert scale questions that we asked our participants to answer elicited interval data. Likert

scales can legitimately be viewed as interval data because the ordered categories have implied
meaningful differences (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 263).
The ratio level applies to only one of our questions and that is the age of the participants in
our sample. Ration data is the most sophisticated level of data in which a true zero point is
calculated (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 282). The type of data collected also depends on
the way the question is asked. In some cases age could be considered nominal data but again our
survey generated a ratio age.
In order to make an appropriate and understandable survey for our participants it was
necessary to have a clear plan on how to not only word each question, but also which order the
questions were to be asked, what group or section they would be put into and finally the
presentation of the survey was to be considered as well because a result of designing good
instruments is that people will respond honestly(Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 140) We
first found three general sections that our questions would fall into. The first section was the
opinion, value and attitude section, the next was the experience and behavior section and finally
there was a demographic section. We grouped the sections in this sequence in order to have the
participants begin the survey with the more important and more difficult requests and the
questions within those sections were grouped by content. It is easier to fill out an instrument
when similar questions structures are grouped. Build ties between the questions (Henderson &
Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 152).
Our survey was a paper and pencil questionnaire and in order to make the questions
understandable and simple to read and allow the participants to accurately comply with the
directions there were several guidelines that we followed to achieve this. For this style it is
often useful to use lower-case letters for questions, uppercase letters for answers. An individual

could also design a questionnaire using different font sized or by using bold-face, underlined, or
italics to show the differences between directions, questions, and responses (Henderson &
Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 152). We also made sure that the question and its responses were located
on the same page and we also put enough space between each section to make the survey clear
and easy to read. We read and reread the survey several times to make sure that there were no
typos, it was easy to read, the directions were clear and it was not too time consuming to take.
The more professional an instrument looks, the better the people will respond (Henderson &
Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 154).
Another factor we considered was descriptive statistics, which are univariate measures used
to characterize data (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 372). These describe and give a
general summary of all the data that was collected from the focus group and the survey
questionnaire. These statistics also contain percentages, frequency counts and any variation that
may occur in the data characteristics. (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 270). With the data
that we collected we will create frequency counts and percentages to have a better understanding
of our sample the RCLS 420 Eval class at EWU.
We were also looking for the central tendency of all the data that was collected. We calculated
the mean, median, and mode for all data that could fall into these categories. Measures of
central tendency are useful for describing a variable under consideration. The mode is the most
frequent occurring value. [] The median is the value above and below which one half of the
observations fall. [] The mean is the sum of all values of the observations on that variable
divided by the number of observations (Henderson & Bialeschki, 2010, pg. 272).
We also incorporated the use of variance, standard deviation and the normal distribution curve
to give us a better understanding of the data that was collected from our sample group with

convenience sampling. These types of data characteristics will give us a better understanding of
the data, its usefulness and whether or not the data could potentially be skewed.

Analysis/Findings:
Using the findings from the survey we were able to compile the data into meaningful
statistics. Listed in Tables 1, 2 and 3 are examples of the nominal demographic data that was
generated from the survey questionnaire.
Table 1

GENDER

Male
26

Female
32

N= 56 completed and analyzed surveys

M= 32

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Table 2

AGE PERCENTAGE
18

20

21

22

23

24

25

1%2%2%1%
9%

5%

32%

17%

31%

M = 32%

N = 56 surveys

32

41

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Table 3:

Percentages for Age

2% 2% 2% 2%
11%

21%

5%

20%

36%

18
M = 36%

20

21

22

23

24

25

32

41

N = 56 surveys

Table 4

Age Frequency
25
20
15
10
Frequency

5
0
18

Median= 21

20

21

N= 56

22

23

M=20

24

25

32

41

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Next we were able to compile data after using Likert scales which yielded interval data.
This data can be found in tables 4, and 5. These graphs accurately represent the attitude or
opinions of our sample the RCLS 425 EWU students.
Table 4

Are you satified with the Rec center?

STRONGLY AGREE
AGREE
NEUTRAL
DISAGREE
STRONGLY DISAGREE
0

10

15

20

25

Frequency

Mean = 3.508

Median = 4

Mode = 4

Table 5

Is the Rec Center too Crowded?

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
STRONGLY
DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEUTRAL

AGREE

Frequency

Mean = 3.683

Median = 4

Mode = 4

STRONGLY
AGREE

30

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Using the calculated interval data questions we calculated the standard deviation and variance in
order to determine whether 68% of our scorers would fall within one standard deviation on the
normal distribution curve. Reference Table 6 for this information.
Table 6:
Do you find the Rec. Center too crowded?
Code
1 Strongly Disagree
2 Disagree
3 Neutral
4 Agree
5 Strongly Agree
Mean
Median
Mode
Standard Dev.
Variance

Freq. Count
4
9
35
8
3.68
4
4
0.98
0.84

Conclusions:
After collecting the data we are now able to conclude our evaluation of the Rec center
and the differences between the users and the non-users of that facility. We concluded that
interest in their field is the number one reason for our sample staying in school. We can also
assume that since our sample was comprised of RCLS 425 EWU student that recreation plays a
major part in their life and well-being. That being said they are not objected to attending the Rec
center more frequently if certain barriers could be removed. 18 people out of 58 or 31% of the
class agreed to this statement.
35 people agree that the most significant barrier to attend the recreation center regularly
is that the facility is too crowded but there were 2 people who strongly disagreed with that

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statement. This means that 60% of the class did not attend the Rec center or was not comfortable
there because of the high levels of crowds.
Other barriers to attend the Recreation center include the 17 people who said that they
had no time participate and the 13 people who did not attend due to the fact that they live off
campus. In other words 29% of the class did not have the time to attend and 22% could not
attend due to their limited time on campus because they lived off campus.
There were two major reasons or motivators to attend the Rec center that arose from the
data collected from the RCLS 425 EWU students. 27 people said that their significant motivator
to attend is physical fitness followed by 12 people who said that they attend in order to relieve
stress. Therefore 46% of the class would attend to remain physically fit and 20% would attend to
relieve the stress brought on by school, work or other responsibilities.
We also found that 28 people agree that they are satisfied with the Recreation Center and
4 people strongly agree while 23 people are neutral and only 2 people disagree with the
statement. For the most part 48% of the sample was satisfied with the layout and programs of the
Rec center while 39% had no opinion on the matter.
One major finding from our data interpretation is the number of times people participate
at the Rec center per week. There were 26 people who never attend the Recreation center while
21 people go at least twice a week. Only 3 people go everyday and 8 people go at least 5 times a
week. Simply stated 45% of our population sample never attend the facility and the majority,
36 %, attend only twice per week.
Finally when we looked at the significant barrier of having no time to attend the Rec
center we discovered that 38 people, 64%, outside of school have a part-time job and 14 people,

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24%, are not employed. This finalizes that fact that our population has difficulty with time
management between the obligations of school and work to attend the Rec Center.
Recommendations:
Our recommendations are based on the idea of taking action or a specific course
following the data that was interpreted from the focus group and the survey questionnaire. The
first recommendation would be to interview a larger sample size and in this case this would be a
majority of the student population of Eastern Washington University. This would allow us to
have opinions or attitudes of people who are students on campus, have many different majors,
ages and hobbies. This would ensure that are data is not skewed and we would have a better
understanding of the major differences between users and non-users of the Rec center.
We would also prefer to have a more balanced or varied group of participants for our
focus group since our focus group was attended by only two different recreation majors and one
male. With a better understanding of a larger populations views on the Rec center we would be
able to create more targeted questions for our survey and questions that could have some more
qualitative data rather than just quantitative data.
We recommend that the participants of our sample begin attending the Rec center more
often in order to create amazing experiences, learn new skills, develop stronger friendships,
relieve stress and remain mentally, socially and physically in better health. Since each student
pays 65 dollars per quarter to participate in the recreation whether they go or not, the participants
might as well take advantage of the great programs and areas offered by the Rec center.

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References
Henderson, K. A., & Bialeschki, M. D. (2010). Evaluating Leisure Services: Making Enlightened
Decisions (3rd ed.). State College, PA: Venture Pub