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Literature Review

Valerie Paz

California State University Channel Islands

HLTH-499: Senior Capstone Project

Professor Winans

5 March 2021
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College can be a stressful time for many people. Between classes, studying, working,

volunteering, and maintaining a social life, students are supposed to find time in between to

exercise for at least an hour a day. These instances influenced the following research question:

What is the relationship between age and the likelihood to exercise on a regular/weekly basis?

The correlation between age and exercise stemmed from the reality that, in some cases, as we

age, we tend to have more responsibilities that can turn our attention away from our health. The

independent variable, which is being manipulated in the study, would be the amount of exercise

the student does weekly. The dependent variable in this study is college students. Throughout

this paper, sampling methods, methodological approaches, data collection, measures, and

analytical techniques will be further explained with the help of recent peer-reviewed research

publications.

The methodological approach used to obtain this type of data is the quantitative, cross-

sectional descriptive research design. In a similar study, a group of researchers used the same

methodological approach and received great feedback. The participants who helped participate in

this study were gathered from 156 different physical activity classes at a southeastern university

(Egli, T., Bland, H., Melton, B., & Czech, D 2011). With over 5,000 students participating,

researchers began to conduct surveys online that would last over the course of two semesters.

Once researchers had the surveys completed, they broke the data down into three tables. The

tables represented race, gender, and age (Egli, T., Bland, H., Melton, B., & Czech, D, 2011).

There, researchers were not able to see any correlations between race, gender, and age-associated

with exercise.

The type of data collection that will be used to help obtain this information will be a

survey. In the article "Physical activity promotion on campus: using empirical evidence to
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recommend strategic approaches to target female college students," the researcher used surveys

to gather the information needed. A group of students was selected at a southeastern university to

help participate in this online survey. The survey consisted of questions that included what type,

if any, exercise the students engaged in and how many days a week, and how long. Along with

those questions, ' students were also asked to give basic information about their age and sex

(Milroy, Jeffrey J., 2015). The data was then pulled and evaluated for further study.

A study that researches the correlation between physical activity and health-related quality

of life in college students goes to deeper measures to ensure validity in their results. Before

conducting their principal analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to confirm the

four-achievement goal's validity (Zhang, T., Xiang, P., Gu, X, & Rose, M, 2016). The four-

achievement goal is developed by an individual when they cross approach, avoidance, mastery,

and performance. Before running tests before finalizing their analysis, the researchers also did a

lot of research comparing their research methods with others.

Lastly, the article, "Content Analysis of Conceptually Based Physical Education in

Southeastern United States Universities and Colleges," will give better insight into the

researchers' analytical techniques to finalize their results. The researcher used many course

content analysis criteria that included course components, description and objectives, curriculum,

and evaluation scored 50% or higher, which indicated shared characteristics among all of the

CPE courses (Williams, S., Greene, L., Satinsky, S., & Neuberger, J. 2016).

Conclusion

Throughout this paper, the explanation of sampling methods, methodological approaches,

data collection, measures, and analytical techniques was explained by other researchers

conducting similar studies. While reviewing these studies, they all seemed to have a very similar,
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if not the same, approach when conducting their research. All researchers conducted surveys

online and categorized their data according to race, gender, and age. Unfortunately, all the data

came out inconclusive. There is no real correlation between age and the amount of exercise that

is conducted weekly.
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Works Cited

Egli, T., Bland, H., Melton, B., & Czech, D. (2011). Influence of age, sex, and race on college

students’ exercise motivation of physical activity. Journal of American College

Health, 59(5), 399–406. https://doiorg.summit.csuci.edu/10.1080/07448481.2010.513074

Milroy, Jeffrey J., et al. "Physical activity promotion on campus: using empirical evidence to

recommend strategic approaches to target female college students." College Student

Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, 2015, p. 517+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link-gale-

com.summit.csuci.edu/apps/doc/A439185748/AONE?

u=csuci&sid=AONE&xid=2611ef63. Accessed 15 May 2020.

Williams, S., Greene, L., Satinsky, S., & Neuberger, J. (2016). Content Analysis of Conceptually

Based Physical Education in Southeastern United States Universities and

Colleges. Physical Educator, 73(4), 671-688.

Zhang, T., Xiang, P., Gu, X., & Rose, M. (2016). College Students' Physical Activity and

Health-Related Quality of Life: An Achievement Goal Perspective. Research Quarterly

for Exercise and Sport, 87(2), 182-190.