Assessing Exercise Behaviours and Satisfaction Levels - Essay Example

Business Research May Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 List of Tables 2 Questionnaire 3 Coding Plan 7 Questionnaire Critique 10 Analysis ofSurvey Data 12 References 22 List of Tables Table 1: Frequencies Table 12 Table 2: Primary Exercise Type and AGE Cross-tabulation 12 Table 3: Primary Exercise Type and Occupation Cross-tabulation 12 Table 4: Occupation and Age Cross-tabulation 13 Table 5: Chi-Square Tests 13 Table 6: ANOVA 16 Table 7: Multiple Comparisons 16 Table 8: ANOVA 17 Table 9: Report 17 Table 10: ANOVA 17 Table 11: One-Sample Test 18 Table 12: Correlations 18 Table 13: ANOVA 19 Table 14: Coefficients 19 Questionnaire My names are Mr. /Mrs. /Dr. ___________________________ and this questionnaire has been developed by the University Sports Centre (USC) with the main aim of assessing the exercise behaviours and satisfaction levels of the members. Please answer and be honest as you can to help the USC compile the correct information. Kindly note that USC will use the information you are about to give solely for the survey purposes only; not for any other beneficial purpose (s). Also note that, your data/information contained herein will be handled with utmost confidentiality. Please complete all questions by mark “√” in the ( ) or space given below in the following question. Thank you in Advance Information Section Member Number__________________ 1. Gender ( ) Male ( ) Female 2. Age [Tick the appropriate] ( ) ≤ 20 years ( ) 21 – 25 years ( ) 26 – 30 years ( ) 31 – 35 years ( ) 36 – 40 years ( ) > 40 years 3. Are you? ( ) A student ( ) A member of Staff ( ) A member of Public [Tick the appropriate] Membership and Exercise Duration 4. How long have you been a member of USC? ( ) ≤ 1 years ( ) 2 – 5 years ( ) 6 – 10 years ( ) ≥11 years 5. How long does it take you to get to the USC? ( ) ≤ 5 min ( ) 6 – 10 min ( ) 11 – 20 min ( ) ≥21 min 6. What has been your primary exercise type? ( ) Fitness ( ) Weight Lifting ( ) Aerobics ( ) Swimming ( ) Other [Please specify] _______________________ 7. How long do you exercise in a week (Please enter exercise duration in Minutes)? ________________________ 8. Would you recommend USC services to others? ( ) No ( ) Yes 9. Why you decided to enroll with USC and not other provider? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Satisfaction Level and Suggestions on How to Improve 10. Please indicate your satisfaction level from your membership in USC on the following; Service Administration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Support 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree] 11. Suggest on way to improve our services Service Administration ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Support ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overall _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Benefit of Exercising 12. Do you the benefit(s) of exercising? ( ) Yes ( ) No 13. If yes, what are they? [Write as many as possible] __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for taking your time to respond to these questions. The end report will be made available to you upon request Coding Plan Questionnaire ID-A unique number (from 1 to the end of the questionnaires) to aid in data cleaning Member Number Question 1 Gender 0 = Male 1 = Female Question 2 Age 1= ≤ 20 years 2 = 21 – 25 years 3 = 26 – 30 years 4 = 31 – 35 years 5 = 36 – 40 years 6 = > 40 years Question 3 1 = A student 2 = A member of Staff 3 = A member of Public Question 4 1 = ≤ 1 years 2 = 2 – 5 years 3 = 6 – 10 years 4 = ≥11 years Question 5 1 = ≤ 5 min 2 = 6 – 10 min 3 = 11 – 20 min 4 = ≥21 min Question 6 1 = Fitness 2 = Weight Lifting 3 = Aerobics 5 = Swimming Give codes from 6 to any other unique exercise Question 7 Enter the minutes provided Question 8 1 = No 2 = Yes Question 9 Give codes from 1 in order of reason occurrence Question 10 Part 1 1 = strongly disagree 7 = strongly agree Part 2 1 = strongly disagree 7 = strongly agree Part 3 1 = strongly disagree 7 = strongly agree Question 11 Service Administration Give codes from 1 in order of means occurrence Support Give codes from 1 in order of means occurrence Overall Give codes from 1 in order of means occurrence Question 12 1 = Yes 2 = No Question 13 Give codes from 1 in order of benefits occurrence Questionnaire Critique Questionnaires are the mostly used data collection tools since they are cheap to administer as compared to other data collection methods and also because the respondents are free to air their own opinions (Freed, M. et al. 1991). In order to have a questionnaire with the required scientific rigor, the research approached its design with following in mind; The research objective; The target population; Order of the questions; Data analysis; and Research Ethics. The research went through the research objective; assessing the exercise behaviours and satisfaction levels of the members and came up with the important aspects which are important captured in order to aid in the achievement of the objective. Questions like gender of the member, age, member number and whether he/she was a student, member of staff or member of the public were considered as were deemed important to the study. According to the researcher, different age groups have different satisfaction levels. Also gender is an important determinant of satisfaction levels as also the primary exercises depend on ones gender. Further, it was thought that the length of stay in the USC had an important role to play in satisfaction and also recommendations. The researcher thought of the different exercises offered by USC as being important in the survey objective of assessing exercise behaviours and satisfaction levels. In this world full of competition, the researcher decided to evaluate the advantages associated with USC services as compared to those of the other service providers. In service provision, it is always important to gauge one’s own market advantage and what best to do to retain clientele and acquire new ones. This can only be effective if the satisfaction levels of the different services in terms of administrative issues, support and the service itself are evaluated. In addition, the researcher thought it safe to get opinions of the members on the importance of the exercising since with this information then one can be say his/her level with certainty and not based on hearsay. Further, it was the feeling of the researcher that leading questions will not augur well with the respondents and the research objective. Thus, leading and ambiguous questions were very much avoided. Also, double barred questions were not included rather two questions, one supporting the other, were included (see question 12 and 13). The researcher further agreed to use both open-ended and closed questions. Open-ended questions lead to more data/information on the respondent and give the researcher an upper hand in understanding the phenomena under study. Further, such questions are also encouraged in that they afford the research the opportunity to exhaustively meet the research objective (Robson, A. et al. 2008). The closed questions included in the survey were made to restrict the participant to the kind of answers to give. Their use was also directed by the need for faster data analysis and better understanding of the survey sample. Also included was a question which employed the use of likert scales (question 10). According to Hague (1998), the use of different types of questions increases participants’ interests in the research in addition to improving the response rate. Another important aspect considered was the target population. USC targeted its members and thus the duration of membership was of importance in the survey as members are more likely to come up with tangible, valid and reliable assessments. The target population also determined the size of the questionnaire since a bulky questionnaire would have been unfriendly to the participants in addition to being against the tenets of a good framed questionnaire. In any questionnaire development, the order of the questions is of importance to the researcher as this creates an enabling environment which ensures 100% response rate (Punch, K. 2005). In this case, personal information was included as the first part of the questionnaire to set stage for the other questions. According to Edwards, P. et al. (2002), the response rate of a questionnaire is determined by the kind of questions asked; whether the questionnaire is bulky and whether there is good flow. To Edwards et al, questions in good order are easier to respond to as compared to mixed ones. To make this tangible, the researcher sub-divided the questionnaire into sections. The first section was on personal details, the second on membership and exercise and the last one on recommendations. Another important aspect considered in the development of the questionnaire was the kind of analysis to be done. Here the researcher was interested in assessment and thus descriptive statistics, frequencies and chi-square tests would be performed. Since each statistics tool requires different kind of data, the researcher took into considerations of the assumptions and the kind of data required for each. Further, since SPSS was to be used for data entry, coding and analysis, then the codes had to be meaningful and easier to enter and not long sentences. Lastly, research ethics tenets where considered. According to McNabb (2008), a questionnaire should have an introductory message which lets introduces the participants into the research study. Such introductory message should make the participant aware that the research findings will solely be used for the indented purpose and not any other. Further, the participants should be aware, through this message, of any financial benefits on participation and incase it is there, then the researcher should say “how much”. In addition, the researcher should let the participants make there own decision to participate and not coercing them. In this case, free consent should be sought and the participants should be fully aware that there participation is by free consent. McNabb argues that a consent form should be made available for the participants to sign and indicate there participation. However, at times the participants may be persuaded to participate by articulating the importance of the research findings in the introductory message. Under research ethics further, it is important to inform the participants that the information they are about to give will be handled confidentially and that those that are meant to see it will only be allowed to see. This to Robson, A. et al. (2008) builds the confidence of the participants to participate. Lastly, the protection of the participants is key if the findings are to attain the required scientific rigor (Creswell 2006). All this needs to come out clear in the consent and introductory message. In the development of this questionnaire, the researcher put all the above considerations in the introductory message. Issues of protection of participants, confidentiality of the information/data and participation by free consent are taken care of. Further, the researcher thought it wise to put his/her name in the introduction to wish away any kind of doubt that may exist among the respondents. Analysis of Survey Data Number 1 Table 1: Frequencies Table Frequency Percent Gender Male 61 61.0 Female 39 39.0 Total 100 100.0 Age 20-25 yrs 50 50.0 26-35 yrs 30 30.0 36-45 yrs 11 11.0 >45 yrs 9 9.0 Total 100 100.0 Occupation Student 47 47.0 Staff 40 40.0 Member of the public 13 13.0 Total 100 100.0 61% of the participants were males while the remaining 39% were females. Further, 50% had 20-25 years of age while 30% had 26 - 35 years. Only 9% had more than 45 years. In addition, the majority were students (47%) while 40% were staff members. Members of the public had a paltry 13% representation (see table 1). Also, the majority of the youthful members (mostly students) participate in fitness and aerobics exercises while the aged (>45 years) are in fitness. Members of the public visit USC mostly for swimming exercises (see table 2 and 3). Table 2: Primary Exercise Type and AGE Cross-tabulation AGE Total 20-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-45 yrs >45 yrs Primary Exercise Type Pool 5 4 5 2 16 Weight training 13 7 1 2 23 Fitness 17 4 2 3 26 Aerobics 15 15 3 2 35 Total 50 30 11 9 100 Table 3: Primary Exercise Type and Occupation Cross-tabulation Occupation Total Student Staff Member of the public Primary Exercise Type Pool 5 7 4 16 Weight training 14 7 2 23 Fitness 14 10 2 26 Aerobics 14 16 5 35 Total 47 40 13 100 Number 2 Hypothesis H0: ρ = 0 (There is no linear association between age and type of occupation) H1: ρ ≠ 0 (There is linear association between age and type of occupation) Table 4: Occupation and Age Cross-tabulation AGE Total 20-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-45 yrs >45 yrs Occupation Student 42 5 0 0 47 Staff 5 19 7 9 40 Member of the public 3 6 4 0 13 Total 50 30 11 9 100 Table 5: Chi-Square Tests Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (1-sided) Point Probability Pearson Chi-Square 63.611(a) 6 .000 .000 Likelihood Ratio 73.761 6 .000 .000 Fishers Exact Test 65.874 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 28.385(b) 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 N of Valid Cases 100 Note: a 6 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.17. b The standardized statistic is 5.328. Chi-square test was used to investigate whether the association between age and type of occupation is significant. According to Gore and Altman (1992) cross-tabulations should be run to identify cells with less than 5. From table 4, some cells had less than value 5 and thus Pearson Chi-square could not be used rather, Fishers Exact test was used. From table 5, the association between age and type of occupation is significant at 5% level of significance [Fishers Exact Test Value = 65.874, p45 yrs -7.8637(*) 3.01339 .011 -13.8452 -1.8822 26-35 yrs 20-25 yrs -6.7332(*) 1.92192 .001 -10.5482 -2.9182 36-45 yrs -11.9018(*) 2.93339 .000 -17.7246 -6.0791 >45 yrs -14.5969(*) 3.16290 .000 -20.8752 -8.3186 36-45 yrs 20-25 yrs 5.1686 2.77153 .065 -.3328 10.6701 26-35 yrs 11.9018(*) 2.93339 .000 6.0791 17.7246 >45 yrs -2.6951 3.74053 .473 -10.1200 4.7298 >45 yrs 20-25 yrs 7.8637(*) 3.01339 .011 1.8822 13.8452 26-35 yrs 14.5969(*) 3.16290 .000 8.3186 20.8752 36-45 yrs 2.6951 3.74053 .473 -4.7298 10.1200 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. From the above results, the exercise duration differs according to age [F (3, 96) = 10.373, p45 years take lesser time practicing although not different from the times taken by those with 36-45 years. Part 2 Hypothesis H0: ρ = 0 (The level of satisfaction is not affected by the primary exercise) H1: ρ ≠ 0 (The level of satisfaction is affected by the primary exercise) Table 8: ANOVA Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 13.478 3 4.493 2.381 .074 Within Groups 181.112 96 1.887 Total 194.590 99 From the above results, the level of satisfaction is not affected by the primary exercise [F (3, 96) = 2.381, p = 0.074]. Part 3 Hypothesis H0: ρ = 0 (Exercise duration time for staff is the same as that of students) H1: ρ ≠ 0 (Exercise duration time for staff is different from that of students) Table 9: Report Occupation Mean N Std. Deviation Student 38.0335 47 7.83114 Staff 38.3937 40 10.81629 Member of the public 38.1705 13 10.86824 Total 38.1954 100 9.43021 The mean exercise duration time of students is 38.03 minutes while that of staff members is 38.39. The mean difference in exercise time between staff and students is 0.36 minutes. However, this difference is not statistically different at 5% level of significance [F (2, 97) = 0.016, p = 0.985] (see table 10). Thus the means duration time for staff and students are the same. Table 10: ANOVA Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2.813 2 1.407 .016 .985 Within Groups 8801.142 97 90.733 Total 8803.956 99 Part 4 Hypothesis H0: ρ = 0 (Members are satisfied with USC) H1: ρ ≠ 0 (Members are not satisfied with USC) Table 11: One-Sample Test Test Value = 4 t Df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Overall Satisfaction 8.631 99 .000 1.21 .93 1.49 From table 11, members are not satisfied with USC [t (99) = 8.631, p Read More