Peter Donnelly, Bruce Kidd and Margaret MacNeill, University of Toronto
Jean Harvey, University of Ottawa
Barrie Houlihan, Loughborough University, UK
Kristine Toohey, Griffith University, AUSTRALIA
SRG 2006
Français
How many hockey players are there in Canada? Although Canadians might believe that such information is readily available, that is not the case for hockey, or a number of other sports. While it may be relatively easy to determine the number of Canadians involved in bobsleighing or luge, the numbers involved in more popular sports such as soccer, golf, swimming, skiing (downhill and cross country), baseball (in its various forms) and basketball is more difficult
to determine.
Determining valid and reliable means of assessing participation in sport and physical activity
is justified in both academic and applied terms. For the purposes of academic research, such data are necessary to understand the development of social and cultural capital, and the processes
of social inclusion and exclusion. For the purposes of evidence based public policy, federal, provincial and territorial governments in Canada are agreed on the importance of an active, healthy population, and have developed policies and embarked on a variety of initiatives in order to increase the activity levels of citizens. However, there are no reliable baseline data, and no systematic measures to determine the success of policies and programmes designed to increase participation, or to evaluate the circumstances that might lead to increased participation.
Since sport policy and public expenditure on high performance sport is in part justified, implicitly or explicitly, on the assumption that international success in a sport will lead
to increased participation levels in that sport, it is important to determine the circumstances under which such an outcome might be achieved.
The study has two overlapping objectives: (a) to assess the current measures of sport participation in Canada, and propose more valid and reliable measures; and (b) to carry out a test of one aspect of sport policy based on the assumption that Olympic medals lead to increased participation in sport. Specifically, the study involves:
- Cataloguing and evaluating current measures for determining the number of participants
in selected sports; comparing measures of sports participation in Canada with measures
in several other countries; and determining if there are available and reliable measures of the frequency and intensity of participation in various sports;
- Determining if there are available and reliable measures of the demographic characteristics
of participants in specific sports;
- Proposing, on the basis of these evaluations: a cost-effective, consistent, valid and reliable model to establish baseline data for participation in selected sports; an estimate of cut-off points for frequency and levels intensity to achieve physical health benefits in selected sports; and a demographic profile of participants in specific sports (as a test of social and cultural capital, and an assessment of barriers to participation); and
- Carry out a test, based on available data, of the circumstances and assumptions that form
the basis of one current public policy intended to increase participation in sports.
SCRI 2009 Presentation Slides
How many hockey players are there in Canada? Although Canadians might believe that such
information is readily available, that is not the case for hockey, or a number of other sports.
While it may be relatively easy to determine the number of Canadians involved in bobsleighing
or luge, the numbers involved in more popular sports such as soccer, golf, swimming, skiing
(downhill and cross country), baseball (in its various forms) and basketball is more difficult to
determine.
Determining valid and reliable means of assessing participation in sport and physical activity is
justified in both academic and applied terms. For the purposes of academic research, such data
are necessary to understand the development of social and cultural capital, and the processes
of social inclusion and exclusion. For the purposes of evidence based public policy, federal,
provincial and territorial governments in Canada are agreed on the importance of an active,
healthy population, and have developed policies and embarked on a variety of initiatives in
order to increase the activity levels of citizens. However, there are no reliable baseline data, and
no systematic measures to determine the success of policies and programmes designed to
increase participation, or to evaluate the circumstances that might lead to increased
participation. Since sport policy and public expenditure on high performance sport is in part
justified, implicitly or explicitly, on the assumption that international success in a sport will lead
to increased participation levels in that sport, it is important to determine the circumstances
under which such an outcome might be achieved.
The study has two overlapping objectives: (a) to assess the current measures of sport
participation in Canada, and propose more valid and reliable measures; and (b) to carry out a
test of one aspect of sport policy based on the assumption that Olympic medals lead to
increased participation in sport. Specifically, the study involves:
- Cataloguing and evaluating current measures for determining the number of participants in
selected sports; comparing measures of sports participation in Canada with measures in several
other countries; and determining if there are available and reliable measures of the frequency
and intensity of participation in various sports;
- Determining if there are available and reliable measures of the demographic characteristics of
participants in specific sports;
- Proposing, on the basis of these evaluations: a cost-effective, consistent, valid and reliable model to establish baseline data for participation in selected sports; an estimate of cut-off points
for frequency and levels intensity to achieve physical health benefits in selected sports; and a
demographic profile of participants in specific sports (as a test of social and cultural capital, and
an assessment of barriers to participation); and
- Carry out a test, based on available data, of the circumstances and assumptions that form the
basis of one current public policy intended to increase participation in sports.
SCRI 2007 Presentation Slides
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