Why do new golfers aged 55-74 take up the sport?

Introduction

What are the reasons why new golfers (aged 55-74) take up the sport?

Student Researcher: Daniel Costalonga, Occupational Therapy (Hnrs) Student
Primary Supervisor: Dr Katherine Baldock, Lecturer - School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
Contact Number: +61 8 830 22727. Email: katherine.baldock@unisa.edu.au

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Alyson Crozier and Mr Brad Stenner
Lecturer – School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia

Purpose of Research Study
The purpose of this study is to identify reasons why people aged 55-74 take up the sport of golf. A recent study has identified reasons why people play golf but had limited participants who played less than 12 months. Therefore, this study will aim to collect new data from people who have played golf for less than 12 months, and this data will be compared to data of the previous study (people who have played longer than 12 months). This is because the reasons why someone takes up the sport of golf may be different to the reasons why they keep playing. With this potential information, it may assist in increasing the amount of people who play golf, to promote healthy ageing.

Your Role
Your role, along with almost 400 other people, will be to answer the following questionnaire to assist the researchers in achieving the purpose of the study. This should take less than 30 minutes, and is voluntary.
Before you begin answering the questionnaire, it is important that we collect general demographic data to understand the characteristics of the participants. This will include age, gender, relationship status, educational history, occupational history and information related to playing golf. We are only interested in your level of agreement with the statements, and therefore there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ responses, so please answer honestly.

There will be no payment or reimbursement for completing this questionnaire, however, you will contribute information to an important area, which will increase knowledge for reasons why people play sport.

You may withdraw from this study while you are answering the questionnaire via the exit questionnaire button, however because all data are non-identifiable, your responses cannot be withdrawn after you submit them. All personal information will remain confidential, and no information that could lead to identification of any individual will be released, unless required by law.

Information Collection and Confidentiality

Information collected will be analysed to determine the reasons why new golfers play golf compared to people who have played golf for longer than 12 months. This may include amongst other things, analysis according to gender, age or playing handicap. Individual data will not be reported, nor will any information that may enable identification of specific individuals within groups be available or reported.

All information collected as part of the study will be held securely in a data archive at the City East Campus of the University of South Australia until published, after which, the data will be sent to the University of South Australia’s external data archive where it will be stored for a period of 5 years, after which it will be deleted.

If you have any further questions regarding this study please contact the primary supervisor with contact details at the top of this document. You will be allowed access the findings of this study, upon request, via a brief report.

This project has been approved by the University of South Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee. If you have any ethical concerns about the project or questions about your rights as a participant please contact the Executive Officer of this Committee, Tel: +61 8 8302 3118; Email: vicki.allen@unisa.edu.au.