1. Unit 5 Research Project
Worthing College Sports Science
Catriona Phillips
2015
2. Assessment Criteria
Pages 3-17 & 27-38
• P2: carry out sport science or exercise science-
based research
• P3: collect and record data from the research
project conducted
• M2: correctly analyse collected data, describing
techniques used
• D1: correctly analyse data, explaining techniques
used
• P4: produce a full research report using a
standard scientific structure
3. Research into the reasons for
female drop out of sport and
physical activity post 16.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
4. Abstract
The aim of this research was to identify the main reasons for the post
16 female drop out from physical activity. This research will then aid
schools/colleges or other organisations that are providers of female
sport.
The data was collected through primary research- a survey that I
created. The information I used to create this survey was secondary
research by using existing research for the reasons that I used in the
survey. I selected 20 of the most commonly occurring reasons in the
research.
My research found that the top three reasons for a drop out were; not
enough time, body image and “I’m not good at sports”.
My findings show that there is a higher percentage of girls who don’t
take part in as much exercise as they did at GCSE level.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
5. Contents: General
3- tittle page
4- abstract
5- general contents page
6- appendices contents page
7- figures and tables contents page
8- acknowledgements
9- introduction
10-literature review
11- hypotheses
12-method
13- data collection
14-data analysis
15-results
16- discussion
17- conclusion
19-21- review
22-26-further recommendations
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
7. Contents: Figures and Tables
31- Age pie chart
32- Ethnicity
33- participation rates
34- reasons
35- still participating amounts of exercise.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
8. Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Paul Cox for the help he has
given me during this project. I would also like to
thank all the people who took the time to
complete the survey for me.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
9. Introduction
Here you need to introduce your project.
What is the aim? By the end of my research project I aIm to have
identified the main reasons for female drop out from sport and
physical education.
Why did you choose the aim? I chose my aim because it is
something that interests me. I am interested in this because I think
its an issue that a lot of girls encounter when taking part in sport
and physical activity at many levels from school PE to high level
sport. There are far higher amount of girls that drop out from sport
and physical activity than boys so I wanted to find out the reasons
for this.
What was the project timescale? Mid-January for preliminary
research- march 27th final report.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
10. Literature Review and References
https://worthingsportscience.wordpress.com/20
15/02/27/unit-5-literary-review-catriona-
phillips/
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
11. Project Hypothesis
What is your project hypothesis (or
hypotheses)?
If I research the reasons for drop out from sport
I predict that the reasons that will come up most
are other commitments and body image.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
12. Method
Your method should include detailed instructions. What you are going to do,
how are you going to do it, who is going to do it and when key actions will be
completed.
In order to collect my information I need to produce a online and offline
survey. This needs to be clear and easy to follow for the participants. I will use
survey monkey online and then use a screenshot of this survey as the hard
copy.
The survey will ask the participant to select the three most relevant reasons
for their decline in participation if they had in fact reduced the amount of
exercise they had taken part in at GCSE level.
The data I will collect will be mostly quantitative data so I will be able to
create easily readable charts and tables using numbers. I will be able to draw
conclusions also from the qualitative data that some people will give in
response.
I will need to get a large sample size so will be using social media to spread
the survey. I will be emailing schools also to get as many participants as
possible. I will also be handing out the paper surveys around college. For this I
will attempt to be wearing normal clothes instead of sports kit so that my
attire doesn’t affect the responses I am given.
P3: Collect and record / M2: Correctly analyse & describe techniques / D1: Correctly analyse & explain techniques
13. Data Collection
To collect my data I will use a survey I have designed on survey
monkey as well as a paper version of the same survey.
The data is quantitative with some of the questions having the
option of including qualitative data if there answer isn’t there.
The paper surveys will be handed out around college for this I
need to make sure that I am wearing neutral clothing so that
it doesn’t have an impact on the answers given. I also need to
say the same thing before giving the questionnaires out so
that it is the same set up for each participant so that what I
say doesn’t influence the results. The online survey will collect
data from other places and colleges. This means the data is
more reliable as it comes from a wider area.
P3: Collect and record / M2: Correctly analyse & describe techniques / D1: Correctly analyse & explain techniques
14. Data Analysis
I will be using bar graphs to present the data so that
it is easy to read and draw conclusions from. I’m
predicting there will be two or three reasons with
much higher responses than the others a bar graph
will be able to make this obvious. I will write the
qualitative data up and include the most frequently
occurring. I will also write these into my results as
things that hadn’t come up as the most frequent
things in the previous research(see appendix 1&2)
that I used as the basis of mine.
P3: Collect and record / M2: Correctly analyse & describe techniques / D1: Correctly analyse & explain techniques
15. Results
The responses to my research came mostly from 17 and 18 year olds
with a small percentages from the other two groups. (see tables and
figures 1). The responses came from a variety of places but mostly
from Worthing College (my current college) and Maiden Erlegh (my
previous school). The most common ethnicity to answer was white
(see tables and figures 2). This may have an effect on the result
however the respondents of the other ethnic groups followed the
same the pattern. The responses were 41.30% yes and 58.70% no for a
reduction in participation in sport (see tables and figures 3). From the
no responses the most common response was “body image” followed
by “not enough time” (see tables and figures 4) this was slightly
different to what I predicted in my hypothesis. However not
completely unpredicted and not unrelated to my hypothesis. The
results also showed that from the group who responded yes to
participating as much as before still participated in at least the
minimum amount of exercise recommended by the government.
P3: Collect and record / M2: Correctly analyse & describe techniques / D1: Correctly analyse & explain techniques
16. Discussion
I found that body image, not enough time and “I’m not good at sport”
where the most common reasons given for a reduction in participation
rates in exercise. In my hypothesis I stated that I predicted that body
image and other commitments would be the most common answers
given. This means my hypothesis was half correct. Not enough time
coming up as a common answer isn't unexpected as it links to having
other commitments. “I’m not good at sport” as a reason was more
surprising. The research was looking into physical activity so this
includes things like going to the gym. This is why it is surprising that
this has come up as a main reason for people not taking part in any
form of exercise. This is something that campaigns such as This Girl
Can address and aim to change.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
17. Conclusion
To identify the main reasons that cause a post 16 drop
out from physical activity among girls.
The trends that appeared most often within the prior
research I conducted were body image and other
commitments being the reasons for the drop out. I based
my hypothesis on this. However I also found that “I’m not
good at sport” appeared higher than other commitments.
This was interesting as the research was looking at
physical activity not specifically sport. So it appearing as a
reason for not taking part in physical activity could be an
interesting follow up set of interviews to identify why this
has become a preventative issue for many girls.
P2: Carry out / P4: Produce
18. Assessment Criteria Pages 19-26
• P5: carry out a review of the research project
conducted, describing strengths, areas for
improvement and future recommendations.
• M3: carry out a review of the research project,
explaining strengths, areas for improvement
and future recommendations.
• D2: carry out a review of the research project,
justifying future recommendations for further
research.
19. Review (1/3)
How well did project conclusions meet project
aims? The conclusion met my aims as it
identified the main reasons. It also gave possible
further research in the form of interviews. These
reasons may enable schools, colleges and sports
clubs to target their advertising appropriately.
P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
20. Review (2/3)
What were the strengths of the research
project? The large number of responses (93).
This meant the research and the results were
more valid as they showed a wider population.
The use of social media to spread the survey
also lead to the survey being answered from
many different parts of the country- I had
responses from Aberdeen and Bath well as from
the Worthing Area.
P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
21. Review (3/3)
What were the areas for improvement of the
research project? I would have had a longer
time frame in order to collect more data. I
would also have used a different online survey
website that gives access to more responses and
more analysis features for free.
P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
22. Future Recommendations (1/5)
If the project was to be completed again what
would you change and why?
I would have used a different website to collect the
data so that I can access all the features, the free
version of survey monkey limits the data analysis
you can do and also limits the number of responses
to 100. I collected fewer responses than 100
however if I had received more than this I wouldn’t
have been able to analyse the data in one group.
P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
23. Future Recommendations (2/5)
What would be the benefits of the proposed
changes stated on the previous page?
If I was able to collect and analyse a higher
number of responses I would be able to have a
more detailed, wider and more accurate set of
results. The results would have been more
accurate and showed a wider section of the
sample.
P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
24. Future Recommendations (3/5)
State a proposal for further research (in total
three proposals are needed and this is number
one of three)
For further research I would ask participants to
rate the reasons for their drop out from one to
three so I can see which comes up as most
relevant.
P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
25. Future Recommendations (4/5)
State a proposal for further research (in total three
proposals are needed and this is number two of three)
I would conduct interviews after they had indicated a
reduction in activity. This would mean I would have more
qualitative data to work with when writing things up. I
would be looking specifically at the group who answered
“I’m not good at sports” as this was the unexpected
response that came out very highly. But also as it would
be interesting to see why this has affected their
participation in any form of exercising.
P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
26. Future Recommendations (5/5)
State a proposal for further research (in total
three proposals are needed and this is number
three of three)
I would have done the research over a longer
period of time so that I could have collected
more data.
P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify
