Participation in Sport and Recreational Activities, Tasmania

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    NAME OF ORGANISATION
    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

    OVERVIEW
    This once-only survey was conducted to obtain information about participation in sport and physical recreational activities in Tasmania by the usually resident civilian population aged 15 and over (living in private dwellings).

    It was conducted as a supplementary to the October 1994 Monthly Labour Force Survey.

    The following information was collected:

    • Types of sports/physical recreational activities participated in during the previous 12 months;
    • The level of involvement, how often and when the participation occurred, and the cost incurred;
    • Club membership and cost;
    • Expenditure on clothing and equipment for sport/physical activity;
    • Unmet demand for sporting and physical recreational activities; and
    • Educational qualifications.

    PURPOSE
    The aim of the survey is to overcome the lack of comprehensive statistics relating to people's participation in sporting and physical recreational activities. The lack of information on Tasmanians' sporting and recreational activities has hampered State Government and local sporting bodies in their attempts to formulate and implement more appropriate policies for the promotion and development of sport and physical recreation activities throughout Tasmania.

    For example, information about physical participation is used to determine how the presence or absence of facilities in a particular region affects the level of involvement in recreational activities. The survey results also assist in identifying major trends in participation as well as emerging sports/activities. These data assist in determining future funding requirements of State sports associations.

    The major users of the survey results are the Tasmanian departments of Tourism, Sport and Recreation; Education and the Arts; and Community and Health Services.

    Data is also used by such bodies as sports associations and clubs, and educational institutions to help them develop relevant sporting policies and programmes for their area of interest. Examples include the Australian Sports Commission, the Tasmanian State Sporting Commissions and the Australian and Tasmanian Institutes of Sport.

    SCOPE
    Scope
    The Participation in Sport and Physical Recreational Activities Survey was conducted as supplementary to the Monthly Labour Force Survey. For the Participation in Sport and Physical Recreational Activities Survey, all usual residents of private dwellings aged 15 years and over were in scope. Special dwellings and visitors to private dwellings were excluded.

    Other normal Labour Force exclusions apply to scope and coverage, for example:
    • members of the permanent defence forces;
    • certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
    • overseas residents in Australia;
    • members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia; and
    • Jervis Bay Territory.
    Coverage
    In the Labour Force Survey, coverage rules are applied that aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

    DATA DETAIL

    Conceptual framework
    As the data were collected as supplementary to the Monthly Labour Force Survey, some data were cross-classified with data from that Labour Force Survey. For example:

    • Sex
    • Age
    • Marital status
    • Highest educational qualification
    • Employment status
    • Country of birth
    • Statistical region


    Sport/physical recreational activities are those that are organized by sporting clubs/associations or those that are arranged on an informal/social basis. It also includes any activity that is undertaken by an individual for fitness and health (e.g. walking). Activities that are undertaken only as recreation or as part of a job (e.g. walking for pleasure or walking to make letterbox drops) are excluded.

    These activities should be undertaken on a regular basis.

    Regular

    Those activities that are done daily, weekly, every summer etc. are considered regular and in scope. Activities done even once a year but repeated on a yearly basis (e.g. snow skiing) are also included and are regarded as regular. Excluded are those activities that are once-only experiences (e.g. horse riding while on holiday) and not likely to be repeated in the next year.

    Participant

    Includes anyone engaged in sporting/physical recreational activities as a player for personal fitness or social reasons, competitor, paid or unpaid coach, trainer, official (referee, umpire, judge, adjudicator or linesperson), administrator, or a volunteer helping with ancillary activities associated with running a club/association/team (e.g. unpaid mowing of lawns, staffing a kiosk, providing transport).

    Main outputs
    Results from the survey are available in a publication (Participation in Sporting and Physical Recreational Activities, Tasmania, ABS Cat No. 4175.6) and in additional user tables. In some cases, additional unpublished cross-classifications of data items are available.

    Population:
    Tasmanian civilian population aged 15 and over

    The main data items:
    Respondents were asked the following questions about a maximum of three activities:

    • main reason for participation;
    • highest level of participation:
    • whether a member of a club;
    • activity organizers;
    • frequency of participation;
    • costs of participation; and
    • location of participation.

    Those who did not participate in any activities were asked the main reason for non-participation.

    Data breakdowns:
    most data were disaggregated at the Tasmanian level.

    Classifications
    A. Classifications from the Monthly Labour Force Survey
    Personal characteristics

    • Sex
    • Age
    • Marital status
    • Highest educational qualification
    • Employment status
    • Country of birth
    • Statistical region

    Geography: Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC)

    B. Classifications from the Participation in Sporting and Physical Recreational Activities Survey


    Selected main sports and physical recreational activities (# indicates activities that were combined for publication)
    • Aerobics/ aquarobics#
    • Australian Rules Football
    • Basketball
    • Billiards/snooker/pool#
    • Bodybuilding/weight training/powerlifting#
    • Bushwalking
    • Cricket
    • Cycling/mountain bike riding
    • Dancing (dance classes, formal ballroom)
    • Dancing (social, disco, etc.)
    • Equestrian (pony club, riding)
    • Fishing (includes motor-boat based fishing.)
    • Golf
    • Hunting
    • Indoor cricket
    • Jogging/powerwalking#
    • Lawn bowls
    • Martial arts (judo, karate etc.)
    • Netball
    • Soccer
    • Squash
    • Surf sports (surfing, windsurfing etc.)
    • Swimming
    • Tennis
    • Walking [Includes those who participated in walking as a sport/physical recreational activity, if they undertook it as part of a fitness or exercise program. Does not include walkers if they undertook the activity for pleasure or interest, or if they did walking to derive income (e.g. delivering catalogues or pamphlets). If a respondent walked to the shop on a regular basis instead of taking the car, this was included as it is physical exercise.]

    Main sports and physical recreational activities:
    if respondents indicated regular involvement in more than three activities, then for questions about particular activities they were asked only about their main three activities.

    Highest level of participation

    Participated alone:
    those not undertaking their sport/physical recreational activity on a competitive basis, but participating alone (e.g. jogging alone, home gym).

    Social:
    any sport/physical recreational activity not participated in for competition value but for the opportunity to be with friends/relatives/workmates or to meet new friends.

    Club/school:
    any sport/physical recreational activity the respondent participates in as part of an organised sporting club at the local level. Organised school sport is included in this category. (Examples of clubs/schools coded in this category are North Hobart Football Club, Nubeena Football Club and Sacred Heart netball team.)

    Intra-state/regional:
    any sport/physical recreational activity that the respondent participates in as a representative of a region. These participants must compete against other regional representative teams. (Examples of regional representation level would be the Derwent Valley Cricket Association versus the Huon Cricket Association, or the Southern Tasmanian Teal Cup squad versus the Northern Tasmanian Teal Cup squad.)

    Inter-State/national:
    any sport/physical recreational activity where the respondent participates as a representative of the State, or in a national competition. (An example of a State representative would be someone who was part of the Tasmanian Teal Cup side or the Tasmanian Sheffield Shield side. An example of someone who competes in a National competition would be a member of the Tassie Devils in the National Basketball League (NBL) or a member of the Hobart Islanders who compete in the Womens National Basketball League (WNBL).

    International:
    any sport/physical recreational activity where the respondent represents his/her country against international competition (e.g. a member of the Australian Cricket Team or a tennis player competing at Wimbledon).

    Total annual cost of participation:
    includes annual cost of membership fees, annual session costs, and annual clothing and equipment cost.

    Who organised activities

    School/tertiary institution:
    included only if the respondent played for the school or participated in school sporting programs.

    Club/association/league:
    includes schools' soccer associations, swimming clubs.

    Workplace

    Sports centre:
    includes all private sports centres (e.g. YMCA, squash centres), and the activity must be organised by the staff of the centre. If a club organises a tournament at a squash centre, it is coded to a club, association etc.

    Individual:
    if the sport is organised by the respondent or some other individual and only the facilities of say the school were used.

    Other:
    includes corporate sponsors, local government bodies etc organising a sport/physical recreational activity.

    Not known

    Location of participation
    At home/other private residence: e.g. a person using a home gym or someone who plays tennis at a friend's private residence.

    A school/tertiary institution: many field games are played on or school facilities (e.g. Elizabeth College hockey ground).

    A club/association venue:

    A commercial venue:

    A local council facility: many field games are played on local council facilities (e.g. North Hobart Football Ground)

    Natural environment: e.g. lakes and rivers for fishing, oceans for sailing, or bush for bushwalking

    Other venue: includes 'the footpath' or 'the road' (usually joggers, walkers and runners).

    Other concepts (summary)
    not applicable

    GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
    Tasmania
    Statistical Division

    Comments and/or Other Regions
    not applicable

    COLLECTION FREQUENCY
    Once Only

    Frequency comments
    not applicable

    COLLECTION HISTORY
    Not applicable. This is a once-only survey

    DATA AVAILABILITY
    Yes

    Data availability comments
    not applicable


    DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
    06/05/2002 03:33 PM