Michigan State University Student Interests in Sports Participation
Daniel J. Stynes and Calvin Peterson
July 1978
INTRODUCTION
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial
assistance." This statement sums up the essence of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 1.
Michigan State University, like thousands of other educational institutions, is affected by the provisions of this
congressional legislation. Administered by the Department of Health. Education, and Welfare, the
implementing regulation directs all post-secondary educational institutions to comply fully with its pro-visions
no later than three years from its July 21, 1975, effective date.
One major area influenced by the legislation is athletics. The implementing regulation states that an
institution which is a recipient of federal financial assistance and which operates or sponsors intercollegiate,
club, or intramural athletics shall provide equal athletic opportunity for students of both sexes. It continues by
saying that one of the factors which the Director of HEW's Office for Civil Rights "will consider" in
determining whether or not an institution is providing female and male athletes with overall equal opportunity is
"whether the selection of sports and levels of competition effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of
the members of both sexes." The intent of the regulation is to require institutions to take the interests of both
sexes into account in determining what sports they offer. The method by which institutions will determine
interests is not specified; the institutions are requested only to consider the interests of both sexes by a
"reasonable method."
Measuring Student Sports Interests
There are two basic approaches to measuring student interest in sports. One is to rely on interests which
are overtly expressed in the form of actual participation or by means of requests to designated officials for
programs or facilities. The second and preferred approach is to systematically measure interests using a survey
approach.
Participation measures popularity of existing programs rather than interests. It cannot be used to assess
interests in programs or facilities that are not pro-vided. Using participation as a measure of interest ignores a
variety of constraints to participation. Lack of participation does not necessarily imply lack of interest. Lack of
knowledge of programs, inadequate transportation, unsuitable scheduling of activities, and a host of social,
economic, physical, and environmental constraints limit actual participation.
Conversely, high participation in a sport may result from a small group of enthusiastic participants rather
than widespread student interest. Participation in existing sports programs may simply reflect the possibility
that more desirable programs are not offered. The monitoring of unsolicited requests for new programs, reliance
on student representatives, or use of other spokesmen for student interests also pose difficulties in getting
timely, accurate, unbiased estimates of student interests. All of these techniques do, however, contribute to a
better understanding of student sports interests.
Survey research is the most widely accepted technique for gathering information of this kind. While a
survey is not specifically called for in Title IX regulations, it is a logical step in effective implementation. The
principal advantages of the survey approach over those noted above is that it ensures that data is collected in a
systematic manner from a representative sample of the student population. There are, of course, problems in
obtaining a representative sample and in measuring student interests through survey questions. These problems
relate mostly to the success in carrying out the research design and will be addressed later in this report.
Objectives
1
Public Law 92-318 (except sections 904 and 906 thereof) as amended.
20 U.S. Code sections 1681, 1682, 1683, 1685, 1686
1. To identify in what sports activities Michigan State University students participate, including both on
and off campus.
2. To measure the interests of MSU students in participating in different sports activities, to include
activities which are not currently pro-vided as well as those which are provided.
3. To determine the levels of competition at which MSU students are interested in participating for
different sports activities. Levels are defined as varsity, sports club, intramural, and informal.
4. To compare interests of male and female MSU students to determine if any significant differences
exist, and if so, to identify what these differences in interest are.
It is not the objective of this study to attempt to assess compliance with Title IX. The measurement of
student interests is only a first step. Appropriate Michigan State University authorities have the responsibility of
assessing existing programs to determine what changes may be needed to comply with Title IX, and of carrying
Out further efforts to measure interests and abilities of students in sports participation.
The study also does not attempt to measure student attitudes about existing university sports policies or
student perceptions of equality of opportunity in the provision of sports programs and facilities. Title IX does
not leave the determination of these issues to student attitudes. Finally, no attempt was made to determine
student athletic abilities except as indicated in preferences for different levels of competition. Abilities might
better be assessed through tryouts or relying upon the knowledge of the staff of MSU's Athletic Department and
Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department.
PROCEDURES
A survey of Michigan State University students was conducted to measure the degree and nature of student
interest in sports activities. The survey was conducted during the 1978 spring term. The "climate" at the time
of the survey was one of growing student awareness of the Title IX issue. All three major Student organizations
were considering a recommendation to conduct a student survey on various sports issues. Additionally, a
complaint of Title IX noncompliance was receiving press coverage by the student newspaper at the time.
Questionnaire Design
A self-administered mailed questionnaire was selected to collect the desired data. A mailed questionnaire
was chosen because of its low cost in money and time and its ease of administration. It was hoped that the high
degree of student interest in the issues covered by the survey and the Title IX publicity would reduce the
likelihood of low response rates common to many mailed surveys.
The questionnaire was specifically designed to gather the kinds of data needed to address Title IX criteria
for sports programs. This included: 1) past participation in sports, 2) degree of interest in participating in sports
on campus, 3) levels of competition at which participation is desired, and 4) sex of the respondent. The question
of abilities of students was not addressed except as reflected in preferences for higher levels of competition.
After examining several alternative draft questionnaires, a design similar to the final one was selected. Drafts
were circulated to key university athletic, intramural, and physical education directors and the Title IX
coordinator. Pretests of the questionnaire were conducted on several students. Comments and suggestions were
incorporated into the final questionnaire which is included in Appendix A.
The bulk of the data on Student participation and interests is gathered in a large table on the inside of the
questionnaire. Considerable effort was involved in the design of this table in order to simplify instructions
while still gathering a large amount of information in a small space. Data was collected for forty sports with
space provided for students to add additional activities. To supplement data on specific activities, an
experimental question was designed to elicit interest in general categories of sports, such as contact, outdoor,
competitive, etc.
Interests are measured using a Likert type scale 2. Such scales are used widely in social science research
and proved quite successful in eliciting measures of interest in sports activities. Respondents were requested to
indicate their degree of interest in each sport as 1) very much interested, 2) quite interested, 3) somewhat
interested, 4) don't know, or 5) not interested. In measuring interests, instructions stressed that we were
requesting students' interests in PARTICIPATION AT MSU. We did not wish to elicit interests in participation
as a spectator or interests in participating in programs sponsored by organizations other than Michigan State
University.
Selection of the sample: Since Title IX regulations make no distinction between part time and full time
students, undergraduate and graduate students, etc., the population to be surveyed consisted of all MSU students
enrolled spring term, 1978. (Table 1). Based on cost considerations and a desire to keep sampling errors below
five percent, a sample of 400 students was desired with approximately equal numbers of males and females. To
obtain this number of usable responses a Sample of 600 students was drawn from the spring registration list
using a systematic sampling technique.
TABLE 1-- TOTAL MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FOR The 1978 SPRING TERM 1
Women
Men
Total
Freshman
3,264
3,657
6,911
Sophomore
3,146
3,268
6,414
Junior
4,220
4,063
8,283
Senior
5,265
4,599
9.864
Graduate
Graduate professional
Special
Totals
1
3,034
318
18,948
4,736
337
20,949
7,700
655
39,897
Input cutoff of enrollment data was as of April 4, 1978, which was one-tenth of the tern.
The sample was drawn through the cooperation of the University Registrar's Office. The questionnaire
and research design was cleared with the University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects and
questionnaires were mailed Out en May 5, 1978. Subjects received a cover letter explaining the survey, the
questionnaire, and a stamped self-addressed return envelope. A follow-up postcard reminder was sent to
students not responding by May 12.
Response and Processing of Returns: Out of 592 questionnaires mailed, 384 were returned, yielding an overall
response rate of 65 percent. Adjusting for late returns and unusable or incomplete responses, 373 questionnaires
comprise the sample used in the subsequent analysis.
As mailings were sent bulk rate, it is not known what percent of those mailed Out actually reached the subjects.
A portion of non-response may be due to incorrect addresses, students who had recently moved, or students who
listed home rather than campus addresses.
Data was transferred from questionnaires to mark-sense forms, and finally to computer cards for analysis. At
each step checks were made for coding errors. Analysis of the data was carried out using locally devised
FORTRAN programs. The student's identity is not recorded on the final data file to protect the confidentiality
of responses.
2
A. Edwards, Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction (N.Y. Appleton), 1957.
TABLE 2-- SURVEY RESPONSE
Total sample drawn
Deletions due to:
- withdraw from University 4
- foreign mailing address
1
- off campus program student 3
8
Mailed out
Returns
Omitted from sample due to:
- incomplete responses
4
- received after May 24
7
11
Total sample
600
8
592
384
11
373
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The analysis is divided into four distinct parts: (1) Representativeness of the sample, (2) Measures of
participation, (3) Measures of interest, and (4) Measures of interest in different levels of competition.
The exposition is intentionally brief as the many findings of this study are revealed in the twenty tables
that are presented. The reader is encouraged to study the tables and draw his/her own conclusions about student
sports interests. The general conclusions and recommendations of the authors are outlined in the final section of
this report.
Representativeness of the Sample
It is believed that the 373 cases used in the analysis are representative of the current MSU student
population. The sample closely represents the class distribution (Table 3), and slightly over-represents females
(Table 4). The female bias was anticipated and is adjusted for throughout the report in estimates of student
participation and interest3.
TABLE 3-- REPRESENTATIVENESS OF SAMPLE BASED UPON STUDENT CLASS
Percent Population
Percent Sample
Freshman
17.3
16.6
Sophomore
16.1
16.1
Junior
20.8
20:6
Senior
24.7
23.6
Graduate
19.5
22.0
Special
1.6
1.1
A question which cannot be answered is whether non-respondents differ significantly from respondents in
regard to their sports interests. It might be hypothesized that non-respondents would be likely to be less
interested and less active in sports on campus than those who did respond. We have no basis for assuming that
non-respondents would have selected different activities than respondents. Survey error and potential sources of
bias are discussed further in Appendix B.
3
In adjusting interest or participation percentages for all Students, the following formula is used: Population
percent - .475 (female percent) +.525 (male percent).
TABLE 4-Female
Male
REPRESENTATIVENESS OF THE SAMPLE BASED UPON GENDER
Percent Population
Percent Sample
47.5
52.3
52.5
47.7
Measures of Participation
MSU student participation in sports activities is explored in a series of six tables reporting the percent of
students ever participating in selected sports, those participating in varsity or intramural sports in high school,
those participating in sports regularly at MSU, those participating within the past year, and those participating
on-campus. Reasons far non-participation at MSU are also reported.
Men report greater rates of participation in both varsity and intramural activities in high school (Table 5).
Sixty percent of MSU male students and 34 percent of female students participated at the varsity level in high
school. Women were more Active in intramural sports in high school (451 participating), but still fall below the
Tate of participation for men (551). It should be noted that both participation and opportunities for participation
of "omen in high school sports have increased significantly over the past few years.
TABLE 5 - PERCENT OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN INTRAMURAL AND VARSITY
SPORTS IN HIGH SCHOOL
Male
Female
All Students
-Percent---Intramural
Participating
55
45
50
Not participating
27
45
35
No response
18
10
15
Varsity
Participating
Not participating
No response
60
35
5
34
51
15
48
43
9
Forty-three (43) percent of MSU students participate regularly in sports on-campus. Female students ate
less active with 31 percent participating at least once a week as compared with 53 percent for male students
(Table 6). Academic workloads, and unsuitable time schedules are cited most often as reasons for not
participating with no significant differences between male and female responses (Table 7).
TABLE 6-- PERCENT OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING REGULARLY IN SPORTS ON CAMPUS
(AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK)
Female
Male
All Students
Percent
31
53
43
TABLE 7-- REASONS FOR NOT PARTICIPATING IN SPORTS REGULARLY ON CAMPUS
Reason
Frequency
Percenta
Academic workload/employment 167
77.
Unsuitable time schedule
91
42
Lack of skills
49
23
Lack of interest
41
19
Lack of on-campus facilities
23
11
Lack of equipment
16
7
Live off-campus or Out of town
16
7
Health or physical limitations
10
5
217
100
a. Percentages are of the 217 students indicating they do not participate regularly on campus. Percents add to
more than 100 as multiple responses were permitted.
Tables 8, 9 and 10 report the percent of students participating in 40 selected sports activities. More than
forty percent of all students have participated in twenty of the forty sports somewhere and at one time or another
(Table 8) but only softball and bicycling meet this standard when participation is restricted to on-campus (Table
10) or during the previous year (Table 9). In each of these tables the "All students" column represents the
spring 1978 MSU student population and is adjusted for the sex bias in the sample. Sports are rank ordered for
each table with respect to the "All students" column and male and female participation rates are listed for
comparison.
Participation rates for on-campus (Table 10) are those most directly relevant to Title IX. Men show
significantly higher on-campus participation rates in softball, basketball, paddleball-racquetball, football, table
tennis, billiards, and weight lifting; while women's on-campus participation exceeds men's in swimming and ice
skating. Men and women have comparable on campus participation rates in tennis, bicycling, canoeing, and
skiing.
A fundamental question is whether differences in on-campus participation of male and female students are
due to differences in interest or differences in opportunities. The following action on MSU student interests in
sports participation provides some insight into the equity issue.
It should be noted that on-campus participation is strongly influenced by the kinds of facilities and
programs that are offered. The high rates of on-campus participation in canoeing due to MSU's canoe livery is a
case in point. Canoeing also serves to illustrate the equity question. With equal access to the canoe livery for
men and women, and apparently relatively equal interest in canoeing, we find comparable participation rates for
men and women in canoeing on-campus (Table 10).
Measures of Interest
Subjects were requested to indicate their degree of interest in each sport or category of sport by checking
one of the following: (1) very much interested, (2) quite interested, (3) somewhat interested, (4) not interested,
or (5) don't know. Two different aggregate measures of interest were developed from these scales.
The simpler of the two measures divides responses into two groups, with responses of "very much",
"quite", or "somewhat" being interpreted as interested and "don't know" or "not interested" and "don't know" or
"not interested" expressing a lack of interest. For each activity the percent of students interested was calculated.
Taking advantage of the degrees of interest implied in the scale, the second aggregate measure assigns
weights to each response and uses these to arrive at weighted averages of student interest. Weights are assigned
as follows:
Response
Weight
Not interested
-1.0
Don't know
0.0
Somewhat interested
+1.0
Quite interested
+1.5
Very interested
+2.0
In this manner, students checking "very interested" are weighted twice as heavily as those only "somewhat
interested" and "not interested" responses contribute negatively to the overall interest score.
Interests in General Types of Sports Activities
In addressing the question of whether or not differences in sports interest exist between male and female
Students an approach was developed which would gather general sports interests without resorting to specific
sports activities. Weighted interest scores for general categories of apart are presented in Table 11. Scores range
from a high of 1.69 for outdoor sports to a low of .07 for expensive sports.
Women show significantly higher interest than men in non-seasonal sports and in sports which are less
demanding in skill and complexity. Men show greater interest in more fast moving, vigorous activities. The
moat significant difference between men and women lies in their relative preference for competitive vs. noncompetitive sports. Men report considerably higher interest in competitive sports and those involving an
opponent than do women, while female students prefer noncompetitive sports. A comparison of the rankings for
men and women also reveals many similarities in interest.
Interests in Specific Sports
Aggregate measures of student interest are calculated for forty different sports. Rankings based on the
percent of students interested (Table 12) and weighted interest scores (Table 13) are quite similar with only a
few activities changing their positions due to higher or lower intensities of interest being expressed.
When interests are averaged over all forty sports little difference is found between men and women. The
average percent of women interested in the forty sports is 49 percent as compared with 50 percent for men.
When intensities of interest are taken into account male scores (.34) slightly exceed those of women (.28). It
must be noted that these 40 sport averages are influenced by which sports are included, but the sports selected
do form a fairly representative sampling of both men's and women's sports.
Differences do exist between men and women with respect to their interest in particular sports. Men show
significantly greater interest than women in softball, table tennis, basketball, football (flag, touch, and tackle),
golf, baseball, billiards, handball, soccer, rifle-pistol shooting, weight lifting, ice hockey, rugby, and wrestling.
Female students show greater interest than males in tennis, swimming, cross country skiing, ice skating, dance,
badminton, gymnastics, and synchronized swimming.
A great deal of interest in sports was expressed with over half of MSU students indicating interest in
twenty of the forty activities. Although we have highlighted statistically significant differences between male
and female student interests, the reader will find many similarities in interest in Tables 11-13.
Space was provided for students to add sports that were not listed on the questionnaire, but extensive
write-ins did not occur. Activities cited by more than five students are horseback riding (18 students), sailing
(11), frisbee (6), and water skiing (5).
Participation vs. Interest
One concern which arises in interest surveys is the possibility of respondents overstating their interest. one
must be cautious in interpreting measures of interest as surrogates for expected participation. Interest will
generally exceed overt participation as participation is constrained by time, economic, physical, social, and
environmental factors.
At the sane time, to plan new facilities or programs some idea of the expected use is needed. Plans which
rely only on participation as a measure of interest cannot foresee interests that are not being met. As long as
there is no bias to over or understate interest in specific activities (i.e., any overstatements of interest are
uniform across all activities) the interest measures should provide good relative indicators of expected
participation in alternative programs.
To examine these concerns, respondents were divided into three distinct groups for each of the forty
activities: (1) those never having participated in the activity, (2) those having participated in the past, but not on
campus or last year, and, (3) those participating either within the past year or on campus. Separate interest
measures were then developed for each subgroup in order to examine the relationship between interest and
participation. Table 14 presents the percent of students within each participation subgroup interested in the
activity, and Table 15 presents the weighted interest scores for each group.
As expected nonparticipants show the lowest levels of interest, past participants show intermediate levels
and recent participants show the highest interest levels. Weighted interest scores for nonparticipants are
negative for all activities except a few which have gained considerable popularity within the past few years
(tennis, cross country skiing, paddle-racquetball, and canoeing) (Table 15). These activities show considerable
unsatisfied interest with over SOB of nonparticipants expressing an interest. These figures are particularly
significant for those activities with large numbers of nonparticipants (cross country skiing and paddleracquetball). At the other extreme nonparticipants express little interest in wrestling, weight lifting, field
hockey, lacrosse, tackle football and rugby, indicating little unsatisfied demand in these sports.
A few activities show quite low levels of interest even among participants. Of 77 students who have
participated in field hockey only 41% express an interest in participating at MSU in the future. Fencing and
lacrosse also show low aggregate levels of interest among participants (Tables 14 and 15).
Measures of Interest in Different Levels of Competition
Tables 8-15 provide a picture of student participation and interests in sports. In designing sports programs
to meet student interests, students' preferences for different levels of competition within each sport must also be
taken into account. Four levels of competition are addressed in the survey: varsity, sports club, intramural, and
informal. For each sport in which the respondent expressed an interest, he/she was requested to indicate the
level or levels at which he/she would like to participate.
In the forty sports listed in the questionnaire, 57 percent of the interests of MSU students are interested in
participating at the informal level (Table 16). The only significant difference between men and women with
respect to interests in levels of competition is a slightly higher interest among male students in intramural sports.
This is consistent with the greater interest of men in competitive activities.
TABLE 16-- FORTY SPORT AVERAGES OF INTEREST IN DIFFERENT LEVELS OF COMPETITI0N
All Students Female Male
% of all
Level
---% interested--interests
Varsity
2.9
2.8
3.0
6
Sports Club
7.4
7.2
7.5
14
Intramural
11.7
9.2
13.9
23
Informal
29.5
29.4
29.5
57
Tables 17-20 report the percent of male and female students interested in each level by sport. For varsity
(Table 17), sports club (Table 18), and intramural (Table 19) levels the top twenty sports are listed in rank order
for men and women. Table 20 reports interest at the informal level for each of the forty sports. In concluding
this section, we briefly compare student interests with the current NSU offerings at each level.4
Varsity: Ten varsity women's sports are offered at MSU sod all except field hockey rank among the top ten in
interest. Of the 14 men's varsity sports not offered, several do not rate highly among the general student
population (cross country running, fencing, gymnastics, lacrosse, and wrestling). There is considerable interest
in varsity teams for men's softball and volleyball. These sports are currently offered at the varsity level only for
women.
Sports Clubs: MSU sports clubs are open to both men and women. The 40 clubs sponsored by MSU appear to
cover most of the interests that are expressed although actual participation in many of these sports clubs is well
below the levels of interest (cross country skiing and bicycling in particular). This could indicate that some
sports clubs are not publicized sufficiently or are not meeting student needs. Canoeing and tennis appear to
have student support for sports club status.
Conclusions and recommendations
- this section omitted
4
Current offerings and extent of participation in them are based on the report. 'Addressing Student Interests in Athletics at
MSU", Office of University and Federal Relations, April, 1978.
TABLE 8 --Percent of Female and Male Students That Have Participated
in Sports
Sport
Bowling
Swimming
Softball
Bicycling
Volleyball
Tennis
Table Tennis
Basketball
Canoeing
Football (flag, touch)
Billiards
Badminton
Baseball
Golf
Archery
Ice Skating
Skiing (downhill)
Paddle-Racquetball
Dance
Track and Field
Football (Tackle)
Soccer
Gymnastics
Weight Lifting
Rifle-Pistol
Skiing (X Country)
x Country Running
Ice Hockey
Wrestling
Water Polo
Field Hockey
Diving
Handball
Martial Arts
Platform Tennis
Synchronized swimming
Fencing
Rugby
Lacrosse
Crew rowing
40 sport average
All Students
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
%
86
85
84
81
81
80
77
76
68
67
63
59
56
56
55
52
51
43
41
41
39
38
35
34
33
27
24
23
22
22
20
19
18
14
13
12
9
4
4
3
43
% Female
86
86
83
86
82
79
73
72
63
53
54
65
37
50
53
61
52
34
53
34
18
27
45
10
19
30
13
8
2
14
30
19
10
12
11
21
9
3
4
3
30
% Male
87
85
85
78
81
81
82
80
73
80
73
54
74
63
57
44
51
52
31
48
63
48
28
57
46
24
35
36
40
29
12
20
27
16
15
4
8
7
5
4
47
TABLE 9. Percent of Female and Male Students that Participated During
School Year 1997-98
Sport
Bicycling
Softball
Swimming
Bowling
Tennis
Billiards
Basketball
Table Tennis
Football (flag. touch)
Volleyball
Skiing (downhill)
Paddle-Racquetball
Canoeing
Dance
Ice Skating
Golf
Weight lifting
Skiing (x Country)
Baseball
Xcountry Running
Rifle-Pistol
Soccer
Track and Field
Badminton
Football (tackle)
Platform Tennis
Ice Hockey
Archery
Diving
Handball
Martial Arts
Wrestling
Water Polo
Gymnastics
Fencing
Synchronized Swimming
Field Hockey
Rugby
Crew Rowing
Lacrosse
40 sport average
All Students
Rank Pct
1 50
2 41
3 36
4 34
5 31
6 32
7 30
8 30
9 25
10 24
11 23
12 23
13 21
14 18
15 16
16 16
17 13
18 13
19 12
20 10
21
7
22
6
23
5
24
5
25
4
26
4
27
3
28
3
29
3
30
3
31
3
32
2
33
2
34
2
35
1
36
1
37
1
38
0
39
0
39
0
14
% Female
49
30
36
29
30
20
13
21
13
21
20
18
17
22
19
9
3
14
5
5
3
3
4
3
2
3
1
1
3
1
1
0
1
2
1
2
1
0
0
0
10
% Male
51
50
36
38
37
43
49
39
37
28
26
28
24
15
14
21
23
12
18
14
11
8
7
7
6
5
6
6
3
5
4
5
3
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
17
TABLE 10 --Percent of Female and Male Students That Have Participated in
Sports on Campus
Sport
Softball
Bicycling
Swimming
Basketball
Tennis
Football (flag, touch)
Vol1eyball
Bowling
Canoeing
Paddle-Racquetball
Table Tennis
Billiards
Ice Skating
Dance
Golf
Weight Lifting .
Baseball
Track and Field
X Country Running
Skiing (downhill)
Skiing (x Country)
Platform Tennis
Badminton
Soccer
Ice Hockey
Diving
Martial Arts
Handball
Archery
Fencing
Gymnastics
Football (Tackle)
Wrestling
Synchronized Swimming
Water Polo
Field Hockey
Rifle-Pistol
Rugby
Lacrosse
Crew Rowing
40 sport average
Rank
%
% Female
% Male
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
38
40
45
43
37
33
32
28
27
26
24
23
23
20
18
14
13
11
9
9
9
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
13
37
43
42
19
32
16
24
24
24
17
14
9
24
14
8
4
6
8
6
5
5
5
7
2
1
4
4
2
3
2
5
3
1
5
3
3
3
1
1
1
11
52
43
33
47
32
39
31
27
25
29
30
30
14
14
17
19
12
10
11
8
7
6
4
8
8
5
5
6
5
5
2
3
5
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
15
TABLE 11. Weighted scores of female and male student interests in participating in sports according
to selected characteristics.
All Students
Sport Characteristic
Outdoor
Inexpensive
Fast loving
Vigorous
Individual
Non-seasonal
Seasonal
Skills Easy
Against opponent
Team oriented
Indoor
Mixed teams
Competitive
Single-sex teams
Non-competitive
Simple Rules
Some contact
Against a standard
Mildly vigorous
Skills Difficult
No contact
Slow going
Complicated Rules
A lot of Contact
Expensive
Female
Male
Rank
Average Score
Rank
Average Score
Rank
Average Score
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
1.69
1.55
1.5
1.49
1.46
1.44
1.4
1.39
1.38
1.37
1.37
1.28
1.25
1.24
1.19
1.17
1.16
1.16
1.09
1.09
1.02
0.77
0.67
0.43
0.07
1
2
7
8
5
3
6
4
14
11
10
2
15
20
9
13
18
17
16
21
19
22
23
24
25
1.73
1.69
1.4
1.39
1.44
1.51
1.41
1.5
1.23
1.35
1.36
1.34
1.19
1.03
1.38
1.26
1.07
1.08
1.11
0.98
1.06
0.81
0.53
0.25
-0.12
1
2
3
4
6
11
9
12
5
8
10
15
7
13
20
18
14
16
19
17
21
23
22
24
25
1.57
1.61
1.59
1.57
1.48
1.36
1.39
1.3
1.52
1.4
1.38
1.23
1.44
1.28
1.02
1.11
1.25
1.23
1.08
1.2
0.98
0.73
0.79
0.57
0.23
Scores for each Sport are obtained by weighting responses to questions 8 as follows; Very Interested = 2, Quite interested =
1.5, Somewhat interested = 1.0, Don't know =0, not interested = -1
TABLE 12 --Percent of Female and Male Students Interested in Participating in
Sports on Campus
Sport
Tennis
Bicycling
Swimming
Canoeing
Softball
Volleyball
Paddle-Racquetball
Bowling
Table tennis
Skiing (downhill)
Football (flag, touch)
Basketball
Skiing (X country)
Golf
Baseball
Billiards
Ice Skating
Dance
Badminton
Handball
Soccer
Archery
Gymnastics
Track & Field
Martial Arts
X Country Running
Rifle-Pistol
Football -tackle
Platform tennis
Diving
Weight lifting
Fencing
Water Polo
Ice Hockey
Synchronized swimming
Crew rowing
Rugby
Wrestling
Lacrosse
All Students
Rank %
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
39
40
85
83
81
80
78
77
74
71
67
65
65
64
64
59
58
57
56
52
51
50
48
48
44
44
38
38
37
36
36
36
34
32
32
29
24
24
21
17
17
Female
Rank %
1
2
3
4
6
5
9
11
14
10
17
16
7
18
21
20
12
8
13
22
23
19
15
24
30
29
32
34
27
26
37
28
31
35
25
33
38
40
39
Percentages include those indicating somewhat, quite, or very interested.
89
87
86
79
72
79
70
69
62
69
53
54
71
51
47
49
68
70
63
44
43
49
60
43
34
36
29
23
38
39
17
36
30
23
41
25
17
10
14
Male
Rank
%
3
4
7
2
1
8
5
9
11
15
6
10
16
13
12
14
23
28
26
17
18
21
33
22
25
27
24
20
30
31
19
34
32
29
40
37
35
36
38
81
80
76
81
84
74
78
73
72
62
76
73
57
66
68
64
45
35
40
55
53
46
30
45
42
40
44
48
34
33
49
29
33
35
9
23
26
24
20
TABLE 13. Weighted Scores of Female and Male Student Interest in Participating in Sports on
Campus
Sport
Tennis
Bicycling
Swimming
Canoeing
Softball
Paddle-Racquetball
Volleyball
Skiing (Downhill)
Skiing (X country)
Bowling
Table Tennis
Basketball
Football (Flag, touch)
Golf
Baseball
Ice Skating
Dance
Billiards
Handball
Badminton
Soccer
Platform Tennis
Gymnastics
Track and Field
Archery
Martial Arts
X Country Running
Rifle-Pistol
Diving
Football (Tackle)
Water Polo
Weight Lifting
Fencing
Ice Hockey
Rugby
Crew Rowing
Synchronized Swimming
Lacrosse
Field Hockey
Wrestling
40 sport average
All Students
Rank Average
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
1.16
1.07
1.03
1.02
1.02
0.93
0.88
0.74
0.72
0.70
0.63
0.63
0.61
0.49
0.47
0.42
0.41
0.34
0.32
0.29
0.26
0.16
0.15
0.13
0.13
0.03
0.01
0.04
0.05
-0.06
0.09
-0.11
-0.12
-0.18
-0.19
-0.21
-0.22
-0.28
-0.33
-0.52
0.31
Female
Rank Average
1
3
2
4
8
9
5
10
6
12
15
16
18
17
21
11
7
22
20
13
25
19
14
26
23
29
28
34
27
38
31
39
30
37
33
32
24
35
36
40
1.27
1.17
1.18
0.96
0.83
0.83
0.93
0.82
0.86
0.63
0.52
0.32
0.28
0.30
0.18
0.71
0.84
0.16
0.20
0.55
0.10
0.21
0.53
0.07
0.14
-0.05
-0.04
-0.27
0.02
-0.39
-0.15
-0.53
-0.08
-0.38
-0.27
-0.17
0.11
-0.34
-0.34
-0.72
0.28
Rank
Male
Average
3
5
8
2
1
4
9
13
15
10
11
6
7
14
12
23
30
16
17
27
18
24
35
21
25
26
28
22
32
20
31
19
34
29
33
37
40
36
38
39
1.05
0.97
0.89
1.08
1.19
1.02
0.83
0.67
0.59
0.76
0.74
0.92
0.91
0.66
0.74
0.15
0.01
0.50
0.43
0.05
0.42
0.13
0.20
0.19
0.11
0.11
0.05
0.16
0.12
0.25
0.02
0.27
0.16
0.00
0.12
0.25
0.53
0.23
0.32
0.34
0.34
Scores for each sport obtained by weighting responses to the interest question based on past participation with
weights as follows: Not interested = -1 Don't know =0; Somewhat interested =1.0, Quite interested = 1.5, very
interested = 2.0
TABLE 14 --Percent of Students Interested in Participating in Sports on Campus Based on
Their Past Participation
Activity
1 Archery
2 Rifle-Pistol Shooting
3 Billiards
4 Bowling
5 Golf
6 Bicycling
7 Gymnastics
8 Dance
9 Table Tennis
10 Platform Tennis
11 Tennis
12 Badminton
13 Volleyball
14 Handball
15 Paddle-Racquetball
16 Basketball
17 Baseball
18 Softball
19 Football (Flag-Touch)
20 Football(Tackle)
21 Rugby
22 Soccer
23 Lacrosse
24 Field Hockey
25 Ice Hockey
26 Ice Skating
27 Skiing CX Country)
28 Skiing (Downhill)
29 Swimming
30 Synchronized Swimming
31 Diving
32 Water Polo
33 Crew Rowing
34 Canoeing
35 X Country Running
36 Track and Field
37 Fencing
38 Martial Arts
39 Wrestling
40 Weight Lifting
Never
Participated
On Campus 1977-78
35
25
29
38
34
63
31
35
41
31
62
37
47
45
58
26
32
34
31
19
19
38
15
13
20
30
52
44
54
20
25
24
22
57
24
28
30
30
10
11
55
53
60
63
66
80
67
71
62
34
86
58
74
65
86
58
71
74
66
54
75
59
33
41
50
74
90
75
78
65
75
57
72
82
66
56
44
77
31
65
81
83
80
89
91
90
76
82
85
86
92
71
93
91
97
89
86
91
92
84
100
84
66
42
100
85
95
95
92
71
87
81
0
96
97
91
61
100
70
83
Percentages are based on responses to the three positive degrees of interest (Part B of Question 6)
(1)_ Somewhat, (2) Quite and (3) Very Much.
TABLE 15 --Weighted Scores of Student Interest in Participating in
Sports on Campus Based on Their Past Participation
Sport
1 Archery
2 Rifle-Pistol Shooting
3 Billiards
4 Bowling
5 Golf
6 Bicycling
7 Gymnastics
8 Dance
9 Table Tennis
10 Platform Tennis
11 Tennis
12 Badminton
13 Volleyball
14 Handball
15 Paddle-Racquetball
16 Basketball
17 Baseball
18 Softball
19 Football (Flag, Touch)
20 Football (Tackle)
21 Rugby
22 Soccer
23 Lacrosse
24 Field Hockey
25 Ice Hockey
26 Ice Skating
27 Skiing (X Country)
28 Skiing (Downhill)
29 Swimming
30 Synchronized swimming
31 Diving
32 Water Polo
33 Crew Rowing
34 Canoeing
35 X Country Running
36 Track and Field
37 Fencing
38 Martial Arts
39 Wrestling
40 Weight Lifting
Never
Participated
On Campus 77-78
-0.38
-0.53
-0.50
-0.40
-0.34
-0.02
-0.31
-0.21
-0.30
-0.11
0.19
-0.31
-0.16
-0.06
0.25
-0.51
-0.34
-0.44
-0.43
-0.58
-0.35
-0.22
-0.41
0.52
-0.57
-0.34
0.20
-0.01
-0.15
-0.43
-0.43
-0.39
-0.38
0.14
-0.51
-0.38
-0.34
-0.32
-0.75
0.70
-0.15
-0.01
-0.07
0.07
0.22
0.61
0.20
0.53
0.10
-0.17
0.74
0.08
0.37
0.05
0.66
0.06
0.37
0.40
0.21
0.11
0.54
0.21
0.04
-0.35
0.13
0.33
1.13
0.68
0.60
0.31
0.32
0.01
0.72
0.72
0.33
-0.01
-0.02
0.51
-0.32
0.08
0.50
1.12
0.40
0.75
1.41
1.04
0.80
1.01
0.67
0.56
1.27
0.41
0.98
1.33
1.46
1.11
0.88
1.31
0.93
0.50
1.75
0.73
0.16
0.00
1.53
0.83
1.53
1.52
1.04
0.78
1.00
1.13
0.00
1.19
1.36
0.91
0.11
1.50
0.50
0.90
Scores for each sport obtained by weighting responses to the interest question based on past participation with
weights as follows: Not interested = -1 Don't know =0; Somewhat interested =1.0, Quite interested = 1.5, very
interested = 2.0
TABLE 17-- Percent of MSU Students Interested in Participation at the Varsity Level by
Activity
Females
Males
Rank Activity
1 Volleyball
2 Tennis
3 Softball
4 Swimming
Basketball
Track and Field
7 Golf
8 Diving
9 Crew Rowing
Skiing Downhill
Ice Skating
Baseball
Synchronized Swim
Gross Country Running
Gymnastics
16 Soccer
Skiing (X Country)
18 Canoeing
Football (Flag)
20 Paddle-Racquetball
% Interested Rank Activity
8.7
1 Basketball
8.2
2 Baseball
7.7
3 Golf
6.7
4 Volleyball
5.1
5 Softball
5.1
Football (Tackle)
4.6
7 Soccer
4.1
Paddle-Racquetball
3.6
Rifle-Pistol
3.6
Track and Field
3.6
11 Skiing (Downhill)
3.6
Swimming
3.6
13 Table Tennis
3.6
Tennis
3.6
Fencing
3.1
Martial Arts
3.1
17 Football (Flag)
2.6
Canoeing
2.6
Crew Rowing
2.1
Weight Lifting
Skiing (X Country)
% Interested
10.1
9
8.4
6.2
5
5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
3.9
3.9
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
TABLE 18 --Percent of MSU Students Interested in Participation at the Sports Club Level
by Activity
Females
Rank Activity
1 Tennis
2 Skiing (Downhill)
3 Canoeing
Bicycling
5 Skiing (X Country)
6 Fencing
Martial Arts
8 Dance
Volley Ball
Bowling
Paddle-Racquetball
12 Swimming
13 Softball
Ice Skating
15 Archery
Gymnas tics
Soccer
Diving
19 Golf
Synchronized Swim
Males
% Interested Rank Activity
16
1 Rifle-Pistol Shooting
15
2 Canoeing
14
3 Skiing (X Country)
14
Skiing (Downhill)
13
Paddle-Racquetball
12
6 Golf
12
Bicycling
11
Archery
11
9 Volleyball
11
Tennis
11
Bowling
10
Softball
9
13 Martial Arts
9
14 Soccer
8
Baseball
8
16 Cross Country Running
8
Football (Flag)
8
Weight Lifting
7
19 Swimming
7
Rugby
% Interested
16
15
13
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
11
11
10
9
9
8
8
8
7
7
TABLE 19 --Percent of MSU Students Interested in Participating at the
Intramural Level by Activity
Females
Males
Rank Activity
% Interested Rank
Activity % Interested
1 Softball
39
1 Softball
56
2 Volleyball
33
2 Football (Flag)
47
3 Basketball
24
3 Basketball
36
4 Tennis
23
4 Volleyball
31
5 Football (Flag)
21
5 Baseball
29
6 Bowling
18
6 Paddle-Racquetball
25
7 Badminton
13
Soccer
25
Table Tennis
13
Tennis
25
Swimming
13
9 Bowling
22
10 Soccer
12 10 Golf
16
Track and Field
12
Table Tennis
16
Paddle-Racquetball
12 12 Water Polo
15
13 Canoeing
11 13 Ice Hockey
14
14 Baseball
10 14 Football (Tackle)
13
15 Skiing (Downhill)
9
Track and Field
13
16 Skiing (Cross Country)
8 16 Canoeing
12
17 Crew Rowing
7 17 Skiing (Downhill)
11
Dance
7
Swimming
11
Field Hockey
7
Cross Country Running
11
Handball
6
Wrestling
11
Water Polo
6
Handball
11
TABLE 20 Percent of MSU Students Interested in Participation at the
Informal Level by Activity
Activity
Bicycling
Swimming
Canoeing
Tennis
Bowling
Table Tennis
Paddle-Racquetball
Skiing (Downhill)
Billiards
Ice Skating
Golf
Volleyball
Skiing (X Country)
Dance
Softball
Archery
Badminton
Handball
Basketball
Baseball
Football (Flag)
Gymnastics
Soccer
Platform Tennis
Diving
X Country Running
Track and Field
Weight Lifting
Rifle-Pistol
Football (Tackle)
Ice Hockey
Martial Arts
Water Polo
Fencing
Synch. Swim
Field Hockey
Rugby
Crew Rowing
Wrestling
Lacrosse
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
All Students
Females
61
61
57
51
48
48
46
44
43
40
40
39
39
37
35
32
31
30
30
29
29
29
22
21
21
21
21
21
20
19
16
16
14
13
11
10
9
8
8
6
Males
66
64
58
55
44
43
45
46
40
48
34
40
46
50
31
36
39
25
24
27
26
39
21
23
21
17
19
9
15
12
14
15
12
14
21
11
8
10
5
6
56
58
57
48
53
53
48
42
46
33
45
38
33
24
38
29
24
35
36
31
32
20
24
20
22
24
23
33
24
26
19
17
15
12
3
8
10
7
11
6