JasonDSlade.com

I was part of a group of students that went to the Freedom Fitness Center [Manassas, Virginia]. We were split up into several groups. One group was participants, another was observers, and another was surveyors. I was part of the surveyors group.  Each person contributed toward the questions for the survey. We were to ask people certain questions and they all had to be exactly the same. The selection of respondents was completely random.  Each person went around the large facility asking the same 9 questions. I was able to survey three men and three women. I did not try to do this on purpose. I did not notice it at the time either. I was trying to get anyone to respond to the survey.

The first question was “How often do you come to this facility?” which the respondents could answer, once, twice, three, four, five, or rare.  The second question was “What kind of activities do you do?” which the respondents could answer studio, fitness, aquatics, cardio, sports, or strength training. The respondents did not have to choose only one. They could choose multiple activities, and the surveyor would mark accordingly on the survey. The third question “how do you feel after the activity on a scale 1 – 7, 7 being excellent and 1 being poor?” The fourth question “do you come here alone or with others?”. The fifth question “why do you work out?” which the respondents could choose between leisure and health reasons. The sixth question “how far do you travel to get here?”. The respondents could choose from several categories: 1 – 4 miles, 5-9 miles, 10-14 miles, 15-19 miles, 20-24 miles, or 25-30 miles. The seventh question “do you have a variable or routine workout?” The eighth question “what was the reason you chose this facility (Freedom) over other fitness chains such as Gold’s Gym or Sport and Health?” The final question dealt with the age of the individuals being questioned. These categories were 20 and under, 30 – 21, 40 – 31, 50 – 41, or 60 – 51. Results are in Appendix A.

It was interesting to be involved in this survey. I am not normally a person who goes up to people to ask random questions, but having the survey in front of me helped me out. Some people just wanted to answer just the questions, but others tend to open up a little more about their experience. I used to feel bad when I would say “no thank you” to people who were giving surveys. Now I understand that they probably do not feel slighted because there are so many people to ask, and when the surveyor asks there is nothing personal on the line because one is not emotionally involved with the person they ask[1].  I never thought I would enjoy surveying, but it was a lot of fun. It was enlightening to me how many people were willing to respond. Out of the people I asked, the respondents were higher than the people that did not want to take the survey.

An interesting point in the results that stuck out to me was out of the 6 men and women that we interviewed, 3 men had a routine workout whereas the 3 women had a variable workout. This could show from a sociological aspect that men enjoy what they do, and it works for them whereas women need variety so it does not get mundane or boring.

Another interesting result was the fact that the majority of the respondents were within 15 miles of the facility, but the proximity of the facility did not have the greatest effect on the respondents choosing of Freedom Center over other fitness chains. By far, the greatest reason for choosing this facility was that it offered more in terms of programs, classes, equipment, and facilities.

This was a great experience for me. I would gladly survey once again. I do enjoy getting the data, and being able to sort it out to find some sort of meaning. When I was called away from completing more surveys, I actually felt sad because I wanted to continue. I also felt that I did not have a good amount of people responding.

Appendix A

2/10/2009
3 males	3 females
Multiple = [male] or [female]
How often in a week do you come here?
	Once	Twice	Three	Four	Five	Once a Month
		1 female	1 male	1 male	1 male	1 female
				1 female
What kind of activities do you do?
	Studio	Fitness	Aquatics	Cardio	Sports	Strength Training
	2 female	1 female	3 female	2 female		3 male
				3 male
How do you feel after the activity? (1-7)
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
				1 male	1 male	1 male,	1 female
						2 female
Do you come here alone or with others?
	Alone	With others		Both
	2 Female			1 male
	3 Male			1 female
Why do you work out?
	Health	Leisure
	1 Female	1 female
	2 male	1 [male]
	1 [male]	1 [female]
	1 [female
How far do you travel to get here?
	1 - 4 mi	5 - 9 mi	10 - 14 mi	15 - 19 mi	20 - 24 mi	25 - 30 mi
		3 female	2 male			1 male
Do you have a variable or a routine workout?
	Variable	Routine
	3 female	3 male
What was the reason you chose Freedom over other fitness chains?
	Cost	GMU Student		Proximity
	1 male	1 [male]		1 [male]
				1 female
	Other
	female Pool/community/classes
	male better facility
	female Member first and offered more
Demographics
	20 & under	30 – 21	40 – 31	50 – 41	60 – 51
		1 female	1 female	1 male	1 male
		1 male		1 female

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[1] Now obviously, there are some surveyors who are emotionally involved in their work and may feel slighted if they don’t get as many respondents as they wanted.