Assessing Student Habits, Needs, and Motivations for Campus Recreation Programming and Service Provision

Lucas A. Cook

Purpose of the Study:The purpose of this study was to assess the recreation habits and understand motivations of users and nonusers of Illinois State University's Student Fitness Center based on gender in order to evaluate the center's services and programming

Methodology and Instrumentation: • A population sample yielded

885 Illinois State University students (271 male and 614 female)

Findings and Conclusions:• The results of the study indicated significant differences between male and female preferences,

attitudes, and behaviors.• It was revealed that female participants were more likely to be influenced to participate in recreation

than male participants by several factors, including staff knowledge, enthusiasm, professionalism, facility safety and accessibility, and availability of space and equipment.

• Variety of programs and services offered and facility cleanliness showed the largest mean difference between male and female participants.

• Both male and female participants indicated that other time commitments were the most influential on their decision to or not to participate in Campus Recreation programming and/or services.

• Male participants preferred Male Only, Weekend Tournaments, and Weekly Tournament program formats while female participants preferred Female Only and Group Class program formats.

• Results indicated that female participants viewed Flyers and the Campus Recreation Website, Program Guide, and Facebook page as more preferable vehicles for Campus Recreation information than male participants.

• These findings have implications for recreational sports providers in how they create and market services and programming for male and female patrons.

Amount of Influence on Participation in Campus Recreation Male Female M SD M SD p

Awareness of programs/services 2.95 1.303 3.48 1.111 .001Interest in activities offered 3.62 1.330 3.91 .985 .011Quality of programs/services 3.23 1.219 3.55 1.024 .003Variety of programs/services 2.95 1.247 3.54 1.042 .001Cost to participate 3.72 1.352 4.03 1.137 .009Other time commitments 3.86 1.270 4.13 .982 .013Cleanliness of facility 2.91 1.278 3.51 1.101 .001Availability of space 3.14 1.316 3.66 1.027 .001 Availability of equipment 3.33 1.350 3.67 1.061 .004Variety of equipment 3.11 1.335 3.46 1.108 .003Staff knowledge 2.67 1.328 3.03 1.220 .003Staff professionalism 2.81 1.289 3.21 1.205 .001Staff enthusiasm 2.63 1.342 3.19 1.250 .001Facility safety 2.89 1.307 3.47 1.146 .001Facility accessibility 3.05 1.331 3.60 1.127 .001Customer service provided 2.72 1.323 3.28 1.186 .001

Preference for Hearing About Campus Recreation Male Female

M SD M SD pFlyers 3.23 1.175 3.45 1.046 .029Campus Recreation Website 3.52 1.062 3.74 .971 .017Campus Recreation Program Guide 3.27 1.043 3.63 1.003 .001Campus Recreation Facebook page 3.03 1.094 3.34 1.038 .001Campus Recreation cable channel 2.77 .988 2.82 .953 .576Student Fitness Center digital signage 3.13 1.037 3.20 .950 .400Word of mouth 3.64 1.005 3.75 .902 .222Vidette 3.02 1.115 3.19 1.022 .089Twitter 2.43 1.151 2.61 1.101 .072Email 3.24 1.277 3.42 1.132 .088

• A 45 question survey was administered, utilizing open-ended, categorical, multiple choice, and Likert scale items.

• Independent-Samples T-Test procedures were utilized to determine differences in student preferences based on an alpha level set at ≤ 0.05

Students’ Preferred Program Format Male Female M SD M SD pIndividual informal 3.97 1.016 4.15 .911 .057Doubles/with partner informal 3.52 .976 3.62 1.029 .328Group of friends informal 3.54 1.062 3.60 1.068 .552Group classes 2.76 1.037 3.88 .913 .001Male only 2.67 .986 2.30 .928 .001Female only 2.52 .921 3.22 1.056 .001Co-rec 3.34 .943 3.33 .889 .879Weekend tournaments 3.11 1.094 2.53 1.033 .001One-day events 3.17 1.045 3.07 1.048 .291Weekly leagues 3.31 1.088 2.76 1.075 .001Open lap swim 2.69 1.484 2.69 1.416 .972

Faculty Advisors| Brent A. Beggs, Ph.D. Daniel J . Elkins, Ph.D.