Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Applied Research
With the applied research we have been doing in the past few months and course and staff developments here at Marjon it has become obvious that we have a considerable expertise in physical activity and the health agenda. It seems obvious to pursue this and market this as a Marjon specialism. I have started networking and met with a very positive response at local and regional levels and it is apparent that no one else has expertise in physical activity . As you can see I will be representing us on two groups to which you will also be invited . In addition there is an e- research group which operates on yahoo and which you may find worth while putting your name to – contact the administrator here
I hope you would like to be involved and will let you know of progress as it happens.
Ian Roberts
I hope you would like to be involved and will let you know of progress as it happens.
Ian Roberts
Friday, January 12, 2007
Active England
Pip and I attended the preview of Active England this week. I hope the following comments will be useful.
The day itself was probably a little premature and the presenters were not totally up to speed in that although the outline preview worked well, the demonstration was less so and they often seemed to be unsure of the reasons or solutions for the various blips we participants found. To add to this the room suffered from the Marjon experience of the screen being out of sight line with the audience. At least at Marjon it is only the lecturers that suffer from this.
The data base is powerful and can be interrogated rigorously on your own pc and can produce up to three factor cross tabulations for a wide range of variables in a wide variety of contexts ranging from local authority up wards.
There are real shortcomings due to confidence levels and sample size. At local authority level ( sample 1,000) there were insufficient cell sizes to produce results for even the most common variables ( e.g total participation by 10year age ranges) as for diversity ( my interest) forget it. I have a hard copy explanation of the details of confidence if any one would like it.
I have unanswered doubt about the validity of the use of land lines for this telephone survey – I would have thought this would bias response to an older non mobile using population but I was assured without explanation that this was taken care of.
The survey is a 3 year rolling survey of adults in England and Wales and runs parallel to the continuous Taking Part Survey (non active recreation) but does not ask the same questions so comparision will be hard.
I was disappointed to hear a hardening of focus by the Sport England Officers towards the definition of sport . To paraphrase Star Trek - ‘yes it is sport – but just as we know it Jim’ . There seems to be a focus on excellence and sport as opposed to active recreation and health. One passing comment was to effect ‘that we don’t need to worry about the 20% couch potatoes as they will never do sport – the focus needs to be on those thinking about sport’. Being a dinosaur this reminded me of meetings with the Sports Council in the 1970s sans blazers.
Sport England have included a wide range of activities in the survey including angling, croquet and darts which hardly meet the Chief Medical Officer’s exercise prescription. This is not too much of problem as one can filter out activities very easily. More serious is the exclusion in data collection of various active pursuits that would be approved by the CMO. There is no domestic activity such as (gardening, playing with children on the swings) there is a debate about transport ( e.g walking and cycling to work) and exclusion of countryside activities with an exercise element ( e.g blood sports, bird watching, fossil hunting) which may be a small but significant part of life in the West Country (my annual fossil hunting trip usually consists of a walk of several miles and cliff climbing usually with many dozens of other liked minded people)
While there may be a case for the exclusion of the above the biggest anomaly is that apart from competitive ballroom dancing they exclude all forms of dance such as salsa, Morris, tea dances. While I can see that ‘Pole Dancing’ may have a limited and specific exercise benefit I would seriously question the exclusion of many of the other forms which form a substantial and perhaps sole exercise regime for many people and for the over 50s is possibly a major active recreational outlet. Again I have a hard copy version of the exclusion list.
Finally for those working on disability there is a lack of detail with yes or no answer to whether a person has along or short term disability. There are no details on the type of disability. Or division between mental or physical.
On the positive side while the survey will have limited value for researchers like myself who often work at micro level on ward based statistics and beneath. For policy makers and strategic analysts working at LA level and above there will be great benefits to have benchmarked and comparative data and to provide evidence to make their funding and programming decisions.
From Marjon’s point of view it will help:-
· In the planning of the new sport facilities.
. Provide good case study material and practical exercises for research methods.
· Provide materials for SPD modules.
· Occasionally be of use in our SSPELL research.
For those wishing to access the system you will need a personalised password – for details on this and the survey as a whole contact:-
Matt Roebuck our Performance Analyst (0207 273 1871)
Simon Ridd - Head of Performance and Improvement (0207 273 1845)
Jim Barrett -Improvement Manager (0207) 273 1855
Ian Roberts
The day itself was probably a little premature and the presenters were not totally up to speed in that although the outline preview worked well, the demonstration was less so and they often seemed to be unsure of the reasons or solutions for the various blips we participants found. To add to this the room suffered from the Marjon experience of the screen being out of sight line with the audience. At least at Marjon it is only the lecturers that suffer from this.
The data base is powerful and can be interrogated rigorously on your own pc and can produce up to three factor cross tabulations for a wide range of variables in a wide variety of contexts ranging from local authority up wards.
There are real shortcomings due to confidence levels and sample size. At local authority level ( sample 1,000) there were insufficient cell sizes to produce results for even the most common variables ( e.g total participation by 10year age ranges) as for diversity ( my interest) forget it. I have a hard copy explanation of the details of confidence if any one would like it.
I have unanswered doubt about the validity of the use of land lines for this telephone survey – I would have thought this would bias response to an older non mobile using population but I was assured without explanation that this was taken care of.
The survey is a 3 year rolling survey of adults in England and Wales and runs parallel to the continuous Taking Part Survey (non active recreation) but does not ask the same questions so comparision will be hard.
I was disappointed to hear a hardening of focus by the Sport England Officers towards the definition of sport . To paraphrase Star Trek - ‘yes it is sport – but just as we know it Jim’ . There seems to be a focus on excellence and sport as opposed to active recreation and health. One passing comment was to effect ‘that we don’t need to worry about the 20% couch potatoes as they will never do sport – the focus needs to be on those thinking about sport’. Being a dinosaur this reminded me of meetings with the Sports Council in the 1970s sans blazers.
Sport England have included a wide range of activities in the survey including angling, croquet and darts which hardly meet the Chief Medical Officer’s exercise prescription. This is not too much of problem as one can filter out activities very easily. More serious is the exclusion in data collection of various active pursuits that would be approved by the CMO. There is no domestic activity such as (gardening, playing with children on the swings) there is a debate about transport ( e.g walking and cycling to work) and exclusion of countryside activities with an exercise element ( e.g blood sports, bird watching, fossil hunting) which may be a small but significant part of life in the West Country (my annual fossil hunting trip usually consists of a walk of several miles and cliff climbing usually with many dozens of other liked minded people)
While there may be a case for the exclusion of the above the biggest anomaly is that apart from competitive ballroom dancing they exclude all forms of dance such as salsa, Morris, tea dances. While I can see that ‘Pole Dancing’ may have a limited and specific exercise benefit I would seriously question the exclusion of many of the other forms which form a substantial and perhaps sole exercise regime for many people and for the over 50s is possibly a major active recreational outlet. Again I have a hard copy version of the exclusion list.
Finally for those working on disability there is a lack of detail with yes or no answer to whether a person has along or short term disability. There are no details on the type of disability. Or division between mental or physical.
On the positive side while the survey will have limited value for researchers like myself who often work at micro level on ward based statistics and beneath. For policy makers and strategic analysts working at LA level and above there will be great benefits to have benchmarked and comparative data and to provide evidence to make their funding and programming decisions.
From Marjon’s point of view it will help:-
· In the planning of the new sport facilities.
. Provide good case study material and practical exercises for research methods.
· Provide materials for SPD modules.
· Occasionally be of use in our SSPELL research.
For those wishing to access the system you will need a personalised password – for details on this and the survey as a whole contact:-
Matt Roebuck our Performance Analyst (0207 273 1871)
Simon Ridd - Head of Performance and Improvement (0207 273 1845)
Jim Barrett -Improvement Manager (0207) 273 1855
Ian Roberts
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Article in Link
The team that received the College Teaching Fellowship (Wendy Evans, Ian Gilhespy and Dave Harris) have just had a short article printed in Link (the LTSN Hospitality etc Newsletter).
The article is entitled 'Electronic Databases for Independent Learning', and it appears in Link 17, a special edition devoted to discussing blended learning.
This is the second published output from the Fellowship team, and it complements an article in JoHLSTE 4 by Dave Harris
The article is entitled 'Electronic Databases for Independent Learning', and it appears in Link 17, a special edition devoted to discussing blended learning.
This is the second published output from the Fellowship team, and it complements an article in JoHLSTE 4 by Dave Harris
Monday, January 08, 2007
Sports Development Newsletter
The latest edition of the Newsletter is out , in printed form. It is available from Harry Richardson
The Newsletter contains details of a number of important research, consultancy and policy initatives undertaken by the Centre for Sports Reseach and Development, including:
1. Developing the Multi-Sports Hub Club, with the College, Sport England and the Plymouth School Sport Partnership
2. Developments in placment-based learning
3. A consultancy service for several local organizations -- Ian Roberts is the contact
4. Developing a student sports qualifications database
The Newsletter contains details of a number of important research, consultancy and policy initatives undertaken by the Centre for Sports Reseach and Development, including:
1. Developing the Multi-Sports Hub Club, with the College, Sport England and the Plymouth School Sport Partnership
2. Developments in placment-based learning
3. A consultancy service for several local organizations -- Ian Roberts is the contact
4. Developing a student sports qualifications database
