Stephanie Nielsen
KIN 512 Research Methods
February 13th, 2015
Purpose and Research Question In the article, Collegiate Recreation Participation and Retention, researchers Stephen Kampf and Eric Teske attempt to prove a correlation between collegiate recreation programs and retention of first year college students. This study aimed to answer the question of whether or not a college campuses program had an impact on their campuses retention. Colleges and universities continue to be watched over for the expenses that they acquire. With budget cuts and program justifications, collegiate recreation has started to be seen as nonimportant to the overall collegiate …show more content…
Data was collected from a cohort of first-time full-time students at a large four year residential college. A total of 3,809 students were examined: 41.5% male, 58.5% females. Demographic information (sex, ethnicity, native citizen status) and precollege characteristics (ACT score, high school GPA, first-generation student status) was collected for the participants. Ethnicity was considered a characteristic that was either present or not present. Mean ACT scores, mean high school GPA, and latest term cumulative 1-year college GPA were examined. Chi-squared tests for independence were used to identify relationships between retention and student characteristics. Logistic regression models were used to show the different student characteristics had on the odds the individual would be …show more content…
Participation in club sport, working as student employee, and using the collegiate recreation facility all showed positive impacts on retention. Club sport individuals showed a much higher retention rate when compared to individuals that did not participate on club sports. The findings within this research are crucial to college campuses and should be used to help further advocate for a growth in campus recreation facilities and their programs. We also can learn from this research that working as a campus recreation student employee is beneficial and can help to have a strong positive impact on one’s college experience and education. Collegiate recreation professionals can use this information as support when approaching higher administration. Recreation is a positive driving force among colleges and universities and will only continue to