Why do some people, particularly in harder to reach groups,
not take part in sport and physical activity? And what public
interventions successfully manage to change behaviours and reduce
barriers?
Creating a sporting habit for life
Sport England is focused on helping people and
communities across the country create a sporting habit for life. To help us understand
better the conditions leading to sport becoming a habit for life,
in 2012 we conducted a piece of research to investigate the
influence of school age behaviour on current participation.
Find out more.
Variations in participation between local areas and across
sports
In September 2009, Sport England commissioned the
Futures Company and Mindshare to undertake a project to better
understand factors that affect sports participation.
The research looked at both; variations in sports
participation between local areas, and across 11 sports. The
research undertaken used statistical modelling to better understand
a range of factors affecting sports participation and qualitative
research to provide further insights into variations in
participation.
Find out more about understanding variations in sports participation
between local areas
Find out more about understanding variations
in participation across sports
Understanding participation
In 2008 Sport England research team ran a programme of
qualitative research around 'understanding participation' that
focused on specific groups at transition stages of their lives when
drop out from sport and active recreation is most likely. Full and
summary reports of this research which included studies among
recently retired people, lone parents and 15-19 year old women, are
available in the documents listed at the bottom of this page.
In addition, between January and May 2008, Sport England
commissioned Henley Centre
Headlight Vision (HCHLV) to undertake three qualitative
research projects investigating:
The quality of the sporting experience
What aspects of sport are important to participants, what
defines a good and bad sporting experience, what are the key
drivers to a great sporting experience, and what is understood by
‘reaching potential’ in their sport?
Download the
Quality of Sporting Experience report
This qualitative study informed the development of Sport
England's 'Satisfaction with the quality of the sporting
experience' survey (SQSE). Find out more about the sport satisfaction survey.
Lapsed participants
What are the reasons for the drop-off in sports
participation - why do people stop doing sport at certain points in
their lives, and what might prevent them from lapsing?
Download the
Lapsed Participant report
Understanding participation in club based
sport
What are the perceptions and appeal of taking part in organised
sport - the triggers and barriers to club sport and sustained
participation, and the responses to key communication and
intervention ideas?
This research was conducted among particular
segments from Sport England’s market segmentation. Lifestyles
within these segments were explored within the context of organised
sport. Questions were also investigated around the perceived and
actual barriers for people to ‘join a club’.
Download the
understanding participation report
The effects of economic conditions on
participation in sport
After 16 years of continuous growth from 1992 to
2007 the economy declined by 1.1% in 2008 and by a further 4.4% in
2009. Although apparently recovering in 2010 with a growth rate of
2.1%, growth was very weak in 2011 at 0.8%. With a decline of 0.3%
in the last quarter of 2011, and a further decline of 0.3% in the
first quarter of 2012, the economy was officially in recession
again. Interested in the question: what effect are the current
economic conditions having on sport participation in
England? Sport England commissioned a paper
from the Sport Industry Research Centre that compares the current
economic situation with the last two recessions in 1980-81 and
1990-92.
Other research
reports around 'understanding participation' can be
found in the document list below.