Motivational Factors for Student
Participation in Collegiate Club
Sports at Indiana University
Ben Smith
Collegiate Club Sports
• Indiana University’s Division of Recreational
Sports (2007) define a club sport as a
▫ “group of individuals who meet regularly to
pursue an interest in a particular sport activity.
The organization of the club may be structured or
casual. Each club is developed, governed, and
administered by the student membership of that
particular club”
Introduction
• Club vs. Other Recreational Sport Programs
• Motivation vs. Benefit Based Outcomes
• Exploratory study to establish reliability of
instrument
Research Statement
• Examine motivational factors among
participants in collegiate club sports at Indiana
University during the 2007-2008 school year.
• Why only club members?
Purpose and Justification of Study
• Build upon limited research on collegiate club sports
• Help campus recreational sport professionals better
cater to the needs of club participants
• Shed light on how club sports
are an important component
in students’ college experience
• Aid in future developments
of campus club sport
operations
Selection of Subjects
• All registered club sport students at Indiana
University during the 2007-2008 school year
(approximately 1,400 members in 44 club
sports)
• Faculty, staff, and community members were
also used in this study
Data Collection
• Permission from the Director of Club Sports in the
Division of Recreational Sports at Indiana University to
contact members via email
• Presented the study briefly to Club Sport Federation
• Set of emails that include a link to an online
questionnaire
• Surveymonkey
Measuring Motivations
• Leisure Motivation Scale (Beard & Ragheb, 1983)
▫ Psychological and sociological reasons for
participating in leisure activities.
▫ 4 sub-areas measured:




Intellectual
Social
Competence-mastery
Stimulus-avoidance
• Highest score = primary motivational factor
• Lowest score = factors they may avoid when
participating
• 5 point Likert Scale
Sub-Areas
• Intellectual
▫ Learning, using logic, strategizing, creating
• Social
▫ Meaningful relationships (friendships), esteem of
others
• Competence-mastery
▫ Need to compete, master skills, challenge, status level
• Stimulus-avoidance
▫ Seek mental and physical relaxation, escape factors of
daily life
Leisure Motivation Scale
Club Sports
•
One of my reasons for participating in my club sport
is…
•
•
•
•
•
__ 1.
__ 2.
__ 3.
__ 4.
__ 5.
__ 6.
to expand my interests
to seek stimulation
to make my college experience more meaningful for me
to learn about things around me
to satisfy my curiosity
to explore my knowledge
•
•
•
•
•
•
__ 7. to learn about myself
__ 8. to expand my knowledge
__ 9. to discover new things
__ 10. to be creative
__ 11. to be original
__ 12. to use my imagination
•
•
•
•
•
•
__ 13. to be with others
__ 14. to build friendships with others
__ 15. to interact with others
__ 16. to develop close friendships
__ 17. to meet new and different people
__ 18. to help others
•
•
•
•
•
•
__ 19. so others will think well of me for doing it
__ 20. to reveal my thoughts, feelings, or physical skills to others
__ 21. to influence others
__ 22. to be socially competent and skillful
__ 23. to gain a feeling of belonging
__ 24. to gain other’s respect
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
__ 25. to obtain feeling of achievement
__ 26. to see what my abilities are
__ 27. to challenge my abilities
__ 28. because I enjoy mastering things
__ 29. to be good at the sport
__ 30. to improve skill and ability in the sport
•
•
•
•
•
•
__ 43. to avoid the hustle and bustle of daily activities
__ 44. to refresh, re-create
__ 45. to relieve stress and tension
__ 46. to do something simple and easy
__ 47. to unstructure my time
__ 48. to get away from the responsibilities of my everyday life
__ 31. to compete against others
__ 32. to be active
__ 33. to develop physical skills and abilities
__ 34. to keep in shape physically
__ 35. to use my physical abilities
__ 36. to develop my physical fitness
__ 37. to be in a calm atmosphere
__ 38. to get away from my regular routine
__ 39. to escape and get a change of pace
__ 40. to seek solitude
__ 41. to relax physically
__ 42. to relax mentally
Hypotheses
• Subjects participating in club sports have motivational factors
that will not differ depending on various demographics (e.g.
gender, class standing, number of years participating, etc.).
• Subjects will not report intellectually motivating factors for
participating in club sports.
• Subjects will not report socially motivating factors for
participating in club sports.
• Subjects will not report competence-mastery motivating
factors for participating in club sports.
• Subjects will not report stimulus-avoidance motivating factors
for participating in club sports.
Response
• 1,366 club sport participants were contacted
▫ 282 went beyond study information sheet
▫ 229 completed 80.6% of the study
▫ 18.6% of all participants completed survey enough
to analyze motivational factors
▫ Not all provided responses to every statement
Response
• 7 of 44 clubs did not have at
least 1 person participate in
study
• Highest response rate = Swim
Club (N=30)
• Men’s Lacrosse (N=15)
• Taekwondo (N=13)
• Men’s Ultimate Frisbee (N=12)
• Equestrian (N=12)
• Ballroom Dance (N=12)
• 2-3/week 42.6% (N=98)
• 4-5/week 32.2% (N = 74)
• 74.8% participate more than
twice a week
Class Standing and Gender
Class Standing
• Freshmen
• Sophomore
• Junior
• Senior
• Graduate
• Faculty/Staff
• Community Member
• Total
Frequency
96
47
48
28
39
8
3
269
▫ Males: 57.1% (N=128) Females: 42.9% (N=96)
Percent
22.8
21.0
21.4
12.5
17.4
3.6
1.3
100.0
Data Analysis
• Descriptive statistics – trends
• ANOVA – compared means among demographic
items (class standing and gender)
• Tukey’s HSD – pinpointed where the
significance lay specifically
Hypothesis Testing
• Each of the 5 hypotheses were rejected as
significance was found either among class
standing, gender, or both.
Number of Statements with
Significance Found
Hypothesis Class Standing Gender
H1
Yes
Yes
H2
5
1
H3
9
7
H4
6
0
H5
0
7
Intellectual Motivation
and Class Standing
• 5 significant statements among 7 class standings
▫ 7 with ANOVA, 5 after more rigorous Tukey’s HSD
▫ All significance =Undergraduate v. Graduate
Students
 S1. To expand my interest
 S3. To make my college experiences more
meaningful for me
 S9. To discover new things
 S10. To be creative
 S11. To be original
Significance
• Graduate students have already been through the
college experience
• Undergraduates focused on getting the most out of
their time in college – well rounded
• Graduate students may only participate in the sports
they already are familiar with
• Low creativity factor = Graduate students not
concerned with creativity. More focus on studies
Social Motivations
and Class Standing
• 9 significant statements
• Undergraduate v. Graduate (17 instances)
Faculty/Staff (3 instances)
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
S13. To be with others
S16. To develop close relationships
S17. To meet new and different people
S18. To help others
S20. To reveal my thoughts, feelings, or physical skills to
others
S21. To influence others
S22. To be socially competent and skillful
S23. To gain a feeling of belonging
S24. To gain others respects
Significance
• Sub-area with most significant statements
• “To be with others” = Graduate low score compared
to undergrad but higher than all intellectual
statements.
• “Relationships” = priority during first years in
college – Graduate students have different focus
• “New and different people” = Small importance for
Faculty/Staff – always new poeple
Significance
• “Belonging” and “Influence” (Juniors v. Grad) = more
office positions once a team veteran
What benefits are gained?
89.2% (N=199/223) “socializing”
88.8% (N=198/223) “meeting new people”
Competence-Mastery
and Class Standing
• 6 significant statements
• Highest overall means of sub-areas
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
To obtain feeling of achievement (M=4.104, SD.945)
To Challenge what my abilities are (M=4.484, SD .724)
To be good at the sport (M=4.365, SD .886)
To compete against others (M=3.659, SD 1.312)
To keep in shape physically (M=4.608, SD .764)
To use my physical abilities (M=4.52, SD .81)
Competence-Mastery
and Class Standing
Between Groups
Number of Significant
Statements
Freshman v. Graduate Students
Sophomore v. Graduate Students
Junior v. Graduate Students
Freshman v. Faculty/Staff
Sophomore v. Faculty/Staff
Junior v. Faculty/Staff
Sophomore v. Community Members
Freshman v. Community Members
5
4
5
1
1
1
1
1
Trends
• “To compete against others” = lowest score for
all class standings.
▫ Drop from Freshman – Community Member
▫ As classes mature, less motivated to prove their
abilities (“obtaining achievement”, “good at
sport”)
• “Develop physical abilities” = no significance
▫ All classes above 4.0 (often true)
Stimulus-Avoidance
•No statements with significance
and Class Standing
•Lowest overall mean score of
sub-area (M=2.52)
•Trends
• “To seek solitude” = lowest
score in all classes but CM
• “Calm atmosphere”, “relax
physically”, “simple and
easy” all reported as
“seldom true”
• “Relieve stress and tension”
highest overall mean in this
sub-area
Intellectual Motivation
and Gender
• 1 significant statement
▫ S10. To be Creative (F=4.275, p<.05)
• Higher overall scores reported by females for all
statements = More motivated by intellectual
components
• Both gender reported above 4.29
▫ S2. To seek Stimulation
▫ S3. To make my college experience more meaningful
for me
Social Motivation
and Gender
• 7 of 12 statements with significance
• “be with others”, “build friendships”,
“interact with others”
▫ Females tend to be more
social. Connect with others
 Males participate for reasons
related to self
 Females participate for wider
variety of reasons
• Open ended question Liked most?
Social motivations
Competence-Mastery
and Gender
• No Significance
• Males reported higher overall mean than Females
• “Skill Development” = 3rd response behind social
motivations
• Only chance to play at higher competition level
• Sports not offered at varsity level at IU:
▫
▫
▫
▫
Men’s Lacrosse
Men’s Waterpolo
Ice Hockey
Men’s Volleyball
Stimulus-Avoidance
and Gender
• 7 of 12 significant statements
• Relation to Intellectual Motivations for Females
▫ Relax and escape academic pressures
• Similar trends for both
▫ Not alone
▫ Challenging and organized
▫ Stress reduction
Findings
• Competence-Mastery: Highest motivation for
participation (M = 4.40)
▫ Not necessarily competition (only statement below
4.0)
 Important but not main focus
▫ Improving person skill, training opportunities
▫ Being active in sport
• Stimulus-Avoidance: Not a motivator (M = 3.19)
▫ Opposite - higher social responses (M = 3.60)
Considerations
•
•
•
•
Skill training sessions
Regular active practices
Challenging drills/sets (pushing limits)
Social environments among club time and
beyond
• Women more motivated by intellect challenges
and gaining knowledge through sport
• Beard, J. G., & Ragheb, M. G. (1983). The leisure
motivation scale. Journal of Leisure Research,
15 (3), 219-228.