FAQs (general) NZSPAS 07/08
1. What is the purpose of the survey?
The survey will provide information on how active New Zealanders are and the level of participation in sport, recreation, and physical activities.
The information gathered will help evaluate the overall effectiveness of SPARC's activities and initiatives.
The survey will also provide information to inform SPARC's future programme direction and development of new initiatives for sport and recreation.
One of SPARC's goals is for New Zealand to be the most active nation - this survey is one of the ways to measure this. Having accurate data on the number of people participating in sport and recreation, as well as how long, how often, at what effort levels New Zealanders participate in these activities will help us see how we are doing towards this goal.
2. Is there previous information available?
You can use the left-hand menu to browse through the combined data from the last three national surveys (1997/98, 1998/99 and 2000/01).
The three surveys provide information from over 16,000 New Zealanders on participation in leisure-time sport and physical activity.
3. Is this survey different from the previous Sport and Physical Activity Surveys?
Yes. The questionnaire is based on the questionnaire used in the previous surveys but the 2007/08 survey contains a new set of questions developed to monitor physical activity trends of New Zealanders.
Sampling for the 2007/08 survey has been expanded to include larger, regionalised samples in 12 metropolitan areas. We expect that the methodology for the 2007/08 study will produce even more detailed data than the 2001 survey.
4. When does the survey start and finish?
The main survey is in the field from March 2007 to February 2008.
Key survey dates are:
- March 2007-February 2008 - data collection (face-to-face interviews being conducted)
- July 2008 - initial data release
- December 2008 - further data released.
5. Why does data collection take so long?
It is important to get a complete picture of sport, recreation, and physical activity, so we collect data simultaneously across the country over an entire 12-month period.
This time period allows us to measure participation in both winter and summer sports. Also, it eliminates the effect different seasons may have on participation levels, as we are collecting information during all four seasons. Only measuring activity at one point in time would not provide the full picture.
6. Who will be interviewed?
The Sport and Physical Activity Survey will interview representatives from the New Zealand population aged 16 and over (there is no upper age limit).
We are aiming for around 4200 completed interviews throughout New Zealand.
7. Why are children not included?
Recording accurate details of children's physical activity is very difficult. Currently, there is no internationally agreed method of measuring physical activity among children at a population level.
The previous Sport and Physical Activity Surveys asked parents to report their children's physical activity. While parents provide accurate information on objective information (eg, their child's hair colour), it is more difficult to report accurate and precise information about subjective behaviours like the physical activity levels of their child.
Also, interviewing children (rather than parents) would have raised a number of methodological, logistical and ethical issues and increased the cost of the survey substantially.
A key task for SPARC is to develop a new Sport and Recreation survey that is specifically designed for the 5-15 year old age group over the next couple of years.
SPARC is one of several government agencies funding Youth 2007 (a survey of New Zealand's young people and a source of information on young people's health and wellbeing). Fieldwork is due to begin in 2007. SPARC has worked with the researchers on the physical activity questions to be included in this survey. Data from the Youth 2007 survey is due for release in 2008.
8. How are people selected to take part in the survey?
The survey uses a two-stage sampling process. Households in an area are selected at random and then an individual within the household is randomly selected. By randomly selecting both households and individuals, we aim to achieve a representative sample of the New Zealand population aged 16 years and older.
9. If I am selected to participate, how was I chosen?
Firstly, your household would have been randomly selected. Households in urban areas that have been randomly selected will have a flyer placed in their letter box. The interviewer will call at the house and randomly select someone (aged 16 years or over) to complete the survey.
10. How is the survey administered?
Once your household has been selected, a trained interviewer from the market research company 'Nielsen' will make a house call to your home or residence. The interviewer will then randomly select someone to take part in the survey.
If that person is home, the interviewer will ask the participant the questions in the survey and record the participant's answers. If the participant would like to complete the survey at a more suitable time, a new time will be arranged for the interviewer to return.
If that person is not home or no one is present at the house, the interviewer will return to the home on another day or at a time when the randomly selected person is available.
11. If I participate, will my information be confidential?
Yes. The information you provide in the interview will be treated in confidence and used for research purposes only.
Your information will be combined with information from other people to prepare summary results. Only overall groups results (eg, by gender, age group and ethnicity) will be provided. For example, 'How active are New Zealand females?' It will not be possible to identify individuals or households from the results.
12. How long will the survey take to complete?
Most interviews take between 30 and 60 minutes.
13. How do I know the interviewer is genuine?
When a Nielsen interviewer calls at your house, they will show their identification card when they introduce themselves.
If you have questions about the interview or the interviewer, please contact Nielsen on 0800 400 160.
14. I don’t do any sports - why should I complete the survey?
We are trying to get a full picture of the sport and physical activity levels of all New Zealanders. This means we need everyone who is selected to take part - no matter how little or how much sport, physical recreation, or physical activity they do.
Furthermore, the survey measures not only sport and recreation, but also physical activity that occurs around the home, during work and as part of commuting between destinations (eg, walking or cycling to work or school).
15. When will data be available?
Because of the interest in the survey SPARC, we anticipate results on key indicators at a national level to be provided after the first 6 months of interviewing (ie, in September 2007). Because of the dangers of reporting on small samples and the potential biases of seasonal factors, regional results will not be made available until after the end of the data collection.
An initial data release will be made after the survey has been completed (mid-2008).
The data will be available on this website.
Updated | 07 Mar 2007.
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