S
Exploring Religion and
Physical Activity in
Beeston
for ‘Leeds Let’s Get
Active’
Methodology
By Jessica Horne
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About LLGA
 Pilot scheme set up by Leeds City Council and Sport England
in an attempt to encourage more physical activity within the
general public of Leeds.
 Aims:
 Increase activity levels in the least active in order to reduce
health inequalities in Leeds.
 Increase the range of activities and sports available in Leeds.
 Open to all residents in Leeds, hope to encourage around 1300
inactive people become active.
Current Set Up
 Free Gym and Swim offer in all LCC leisure centers > 1
hour free session within an allocated time table.
 Free community offers, all taking place in local parks and
community venues:
 Health Walks
 Beginners running
 Family activates
 Bodyline Access Scheme
Our Aim
 To investigate and produce recommendations for LLGA on how and to
what extent faith communities and religious organisations can be
useful in developing links with the wider community, helping them to
encourage a higher participation in physical activity among them.
 Specifically:
 What general understanding and current commitment to physical activity is
there?
 Are there any incentives to participate?
 What religious commitments or boundaries are there affecting participation
in physical activity?
 What opportunities of promoting/encouraging members to join
LLGA are there?
Academic Background Reading
 Woods, R.B. 2007. Social Issues in Sport. Human Kinetics
 Religious Mapping Beeston. 2011.
 Dr. Mel Prideaux PhD. 2008. Focused on Beeston
 Creswell, J. 1998. Qualitative Enquiry and Research Design. London:
Sage Publications
 Bryman, A. 2012. Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford
University Press
Data Collection Method
Qualitative Research
Is a method used in many different academic disciplines that use subjective
judgment based on non quantifiable information.
It is aimed at gaining a deep understanding of a specific organisation or
event, rather a than surface description of a large sample of a population.
It is used to get a better understanding through first hand experience.
It aims to understand how the participants derive meaning from their
surroundings, and how this meaning influences their behavior.
Why Qualitative Research
 Allows one to encompass all kinds of research, rather than focusing
on just one aspect such as statistics.
 Allows the development of Grounded theory
 Sensitising concepts
 The key is in the detail
 Literary Style of report
 Active learner
Semi-Structured Interview
 Start with an ‘Interview Guide’:
- a list of questions that have fairly specific topics in which the
researcher wishes to cover, but the interview itself has a great
deal of leeway and does not have to abide by the guide.
 The aim is that all the questions on the guide are asked, with
any additional points added by both the interviewer and
participant as the interview progresses.
 We aimed for rich, detailed answers, providing us with as much
information as possible.
Selected Participants
Ethical Precautions
 Informed Consent
 Participant Anonymity
 Recordings – all with granted permission. Once transcribed
onto computer files, all were deleted.
 Cultural differences
 Role as researchers
Criticisms
- Too
Subjective & Impressionistic
- Researcher Bias

With two researchers we hope to
reduce risk of this and the damage
it might have.

Aim to provide as much detail as
possible.

Any additional research done by
another, similar to ours will in its
diversity only provide more findings
to better the intentions of LLGA.

Further studies vital.
- Difficult to Replicate
- Problem of generalising
Analysis
SUCCESSFUL!
 Made contact with all desired participants
 Ample Information
 Positive response & future for LLGA
Questions?