College Student Motivation Study
The purpose of the study was to compare motivations for sports activities versus exercises among college students. This study mainly intended to measure, evaluate and score motives for physical activity for college students’ level of motivation in physical activity. In addition, the study investigated the motivation differences between sports participation and exercise and gender differences for physical activity motivation. The participants were enrolled in undergraduate health and kinesiology at a university in South Eastern United States.
The researchers collected data during a class meeting of each course. The learners were informed in advance that participation was voluntary, and their responses would be confidential. They were provided with questionnaires and instructed to be honest. Majority of the participants completed feeling the questionnaire in less than 10mins. Data analysis was then conducted using Statistical Package for social sciences. The partakers gave descriptive information of their physical action conduct, answering to 4 single-item indicators measuring intensity, frequency, adherence, and duration.
Results show that partakers were more likely to show inherent motives, such as challenge and enjoyment for taking part in sports. At the same time, incentives for exercise were more extrinsic and focused on stress management, appearance and weight management. The findings propose that motivations for sport partaking are more desired than those for exercise and might facilitate better devotion to physical activity recommendation. The epidemiological indication showed that the level of physical activity reduces from high school to college, and activity patterns in college are commonly inadequate to enhance fitness and health. The findings also backed up significant gender effect for motivation intrinsic: social recognition, competition, challenge, weight management, strength, and endurance. Their study also held that external motivations, for instance, appearance and health were the major motivations to take part in the exercise.
The research had several limitations like the capability to take a broad view the current findings were limited by the samples of mostly young, Caucasian and learned students. Additionally, the students who were chosen were from health and kinesiology courses, and it is likely that they did not reflect the whole student population. The learners who were chosen might have a greater interest in health and physical activities tan learners who pursue other course works. The findings could not represent the overall college students. On the other hand, understanding the physical activity motivation would have been improved if the data would have been collected over time. The design issues suggest that conclusion draws from the study have to be viewed as preliminary.
The other works that the research cited include healthy people, youth risky behavior surveillance, and disease control and prevention. This study that was conducted was subjective because it didn’t show a clear picture. It was just an expression of opinions or outlook by the students. Another reason is that questionnaires were used. Questionnaires are normally used to draw from individuals’ personal information about their perceptions and thoughts (Kim & Cardinal, 2019). Viewpoints on the collection of subjective statistics through questionnaires vary extensively. It’s a subjective study since it aimed to measure the learners’ attitudes, feelings, and perceptions of physical activity. Something that I would have done differently in this study would be to take enough time and conduct the research effectively. This will be essential to understand the motivation for sports of the students in an effective way. Additionally, I would prefer to consider a mixture of student’s from different courses instead of one.
Kim, M. S., & Cardinal, B. J. (2019) Differences in university students’ motivation between a required and an elective physical activity education policy Journal of American College Health, 67(3), 207-214.
Nuss, K., Moore, K., Nelson, T., & Li, K. (2020). Effects of Motivational Interviewing and Wearable Fitness Trackers on Motivation and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Health Promotion, 0890117120939030.