Running

Head: Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity

Analyzing Peoples Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity
Andrew Murrell and Mason Vodry
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Andrew Murrell 11/28/2014 4:51 PM

Comment [1]: Teacher Comments
Title page looks good!

Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity

Introduction

A simple walk to class could be made much more enjoyable if you were having
fun while doing it. Many people experience boredom on a daily basis,

its one of the

most common emotions (Danckert, 2005, para 1). Since boredom is such a common
emotion what can we do to minimize it? Exercise is one way to minimize boredom, not
only is it entertaining and healthy, but its also proven to reduce tension, anxiety, and
stress (Cohen, Shamus, 2009, p. 4). However, there is one problem when using exercise
to reduce boredom, many people are open to exercising but have no one to do it with. A
common example would be running, many people refuse to run on their own but would
be willing to run with a friend. People will be willing to participate in an activity if they
believe other people will also participate (Oliver, 1984, pg 601).
Methods
In this experiment, participants will be random people who are walking on
UNCCs campus. They can be of any demographic, anybody who is walking by the
hopscotch course and visibly notices it or participates in it will be recorded as a
participant. It is assumed that most participants will end up being college students, but
some UNCC employees or visitors may end up as a part of the experiment.
For the measures, people will be observed and each person that participates in the
hopscotch course will be recorded. The gender of the person will also be recorded. The
total amount of people that walked by without participating will also be recorded so that a
percentage of people that participated can be calculated. The expected percentage of
people that participate is 10%. This will be the mark for a successful experiment.

Andrew Murrell 11/28/2014 4:50 PM

Comment [2]: Teacher Comments
Consider eliminating 2nd person.
This is a good start, but you need to
work around to your your
experiment. This seems to be going off on
a tangent a little.
Plan for 2-3 paragraphs for your intro

Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity

3




The procedure for this experiment will begin with drawing a hopscotch course
with chalk in a designated location. The location will be in a well traveled area so the
experiment will have a measurable experimental group. Anyone who takes notice to the
course or participates in it will be recorded as a participant in the experiment. How many
people participate in the course compared to how many walk by will be recorded. The
experiment will also be testing to see how much more likely people are to participate
when someone else is already participating in comparison to how many participate when
no one else is on the course.
Results and Discussion
The results found in this experiment were much lower than anticipated, the
prediction was that 33% of people that walked by would participate, but the results show
that on average 20.5% participated in the hopscotch course. For both sections of the
experiment 100 people were observed. For the first section of the experiment, the
hopscotch course was not occupied by anyone to attract more people. Of 100 people 17
participated in the course. In the second section of the experiment Mason, went through
the course every 2 minutes. Of 100 people 26 participated in the course.
For this experiment it was found that not many people will participate in an
activity on their own. One way that the experiment could have more people participate is
if people would be informed about the opportunity. If the participants were approached
and told about the opportunity to have more fun on their walk to class the results would
have more people involved in the game. Since the hopscotch was just sitting there many
people probably thought it was just left there. It was also observed that females were
more inclined to participate. Most guys just looked at it then kept walking, women were

Andrew Murrell 11/28/2014 4:52 PM

Comment [3]: Teacher Comments
Use subtitles to separate the subsections.
Write the entire section in past tense.
Use specific demographic information of
your actual participants.
Don't include your guess in the measures
section. Just the facts of how you
measured level of participation.

Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity

much more intrigued by the hopscotch. Another observation is that when one of the

group members participated first, many more people participated after him. This shows
that people are more inclined to participate if someone goes first. People would rather
follow other than lead.

Andrew Murrell 11/28/2014 4:52 PM

Comment [4]: Teacher Comments
Use section titles for different sections.
Eliminate wordiness.
Don't use Mason's name. Instead call him
researcher 1 or experimenter 1.

Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity

References

Cohen, G., & Shamus, E. (2009) Depressed, Low Self-Esteem: What can exercise do for you? The Internet
Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 7(2), 1-4.
Danckert, J. (2005) Time flies when youre having fun: Temporal estimation and the experience of
boredom. Brain and Cognition, 59(3), 236-245.
Oliver, P. (1984) If you dont do it, nobody else will: Active and token contributors to local collective
action. American Sociological Review, 49, 601-610.

Andrew Murrell 11/28/2014 4:52 PM

Comment [5]: Teacher Comments
Use 12 pt Times New Roman for
Reference page.

Willingness to Participate in Physical Activity