The reason For NON-PARTICIPATION in physical activities

Viet Dinh

Instructor: Ngo Phuong Dung & Le Tuan Anh

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JULY 2, 2015

ContentsCover Page .............................................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Literature Review.............................................................................................................................................................3

Method............................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Results............................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

Discussion..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

References....................................................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction

As a healthy lifestyle and activity, doing physical activities has recently become

increasingly popular around the world. There are so many ways that activities

contributes to everyday life. The habit of working out regularly can prevent

people from diseases, obesity, and stress or even prolong their longevity. Playing

sport also has an effect on overall appearance. Moreover, it is proven that

exercising can improve self-esteem and confidence. Due to a few of

aforementioned benefits, it can be easily seen that exercise plays an essential

role in our existence. However, many people fail to aware of the great

significance of sport. They plead lack of time, health problem, working under

pressure to excuse their laziness. Hence, this research will aim at investigating

the answers for the question: “Why people don’t do physical activities?”

Literature Review

Briefly, Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal

muscles that result in energy expenditure. The energy expenditure can be

measured in kilocalories. Everyone performs physical activity in order to sustain

life; however, the amount is largely subject to personal choice and may vary

considerably from person to person as well as for a given person over time

(Caspersen, Powell, Christenson, 1985). Even busy people will find that exercise

can help improve their lifestyle. Regular activities provides both physical and

mental benefits that can help people organize their life, have more energy and

generally feel more content according to Adrienne Warber, 2015. The benefit of

physical activities are numerous so why people do not practice? In a recent

research, studies show that 60% of American adults do not get the

recommended amount of physical activity and over 25% of adults are not active

at all (Paige Waehner, 2014). There are thousands of reason to excuse for their

laziness such as “I don’t have time”, “I’m too tired”, “Exercise is boring”, “I just

don’t like to move”, “I’ve tried before”, “Exercise is painful”, “I don’t have money”

…

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To expose the above issue, the researcher used qualitative research by asking

randomly some people on the street. First of all what is qualitative research?

Qualitative research is a type of scientific research. In general terms, scientific

research consists of an investigation that:

Seeks answers to a question

Systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question

Collects evidence

Produces findings that were not determined in advance

Produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of

the study

Additionally, it seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the

perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is especially

effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions,

behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations. In detail, the researcher

used “In-depth interview modules” which is optimal for collecting data on

individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, and experiences, particularly when

sensitive topics are being explored. Moreover, the forms that the researcher took

was field notes, recordings and transcripts.

The data analysis followed a number of steps based on the Grounded Theory

coding paradigm proposed by (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). This comprises open,

axial and selective coding stages to ensure conceptual development and density.

The core idea of using this paradigm is to use a structured method to establish a

connection between unformatted text and the research objectives (Binder and

Edward, 2010).

In the open coding, the researcher read through his data combined with the

transcriptions of the interviews and synthesized to some categories. Use different

colored highlights to distinguish each interviewee concept and category. What

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should have at the end of this stage are transcripts with seven different colors in

lots of highlighted text. Transfer these into a brief outline, with concepts being

main headings and categories being subheadings.

In axial coding, the researcher was using his concepts and categories while re-

reading the answer and identify relationships among the open codes.

Finally, selective coding is to transfer concepts and categories into a data table.

The researcher classified the interviewees by gender: Male and Female; to make

a comparison because both were asked with the same questions but the

outcomes were like night and day. To obtain a particular result, divided into group

was the best way.

With the busy lives most people lead, there are many reasons people do not

exercise. Exercise can sometimes be the last thing on a person's “To Do list” with

a schedule filled with demanding jobs and other stuffs. However, what most

people do not realize is that regular exercise can make life easier. After

categorizing, the researcher have found out there are four main reason to excuse

for their non-participant in physical activities: Lack of motivation, Work and study

constraint, Financial constraint, Time constraint.

17%

23%

43%

17%

Female

Work Constraints

Financial Constraints

Lack of motivation

Time Constraints

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Overall, it is clear that Lack of Motivation represents the largest portion. For more

detail, Female had 15 different answers about their lack of motivation like “afraid

of hurting myself”, “find it hard to walk long distances or play any activities” and

so on. They prefer other activities rather than doing exercise: “like scrapbooking

and laying around watching DVD's”, “Social activity”, “Finding a job” … Followed

up by Financial Constraints, most of them are not enough budget to go to the

gym or they would rather spend money for other purpose like an overseas trip.

Finally, the rest reason were equally, which is Work Constraints and Time

Constraints. They all answer in the same way for instance, “I have to work for

hours” “I have a full time job and three children” “My job drive me crazy” “I don’t

have enough time” …

23%

7%

53%

17%

Male

Work & Study Constraint

Financial Constraint

Lack of motivation

Time Constraint

Similar to Female, the most common reason of Male was Lack of motivation.

Instead of go to the gym, they prefer watching TV, playing computer games, take

part in model building especially Warcraft and engaging in socializing. They said

that their body was fine, not overweight/fat. On the other hand, lack of confident

and shy to go to the gym, do not in a team to play with were their opinions to

excuse for their laziness. It occupied more than a half of their reasons. The other

was Work and Study Constraint. They feel tired after a long day working, totally

exhausted, works and studies took all of their time or even unemployed.

Followed up by Time Constraint and the last was Financial Constraint. Only 7%

told they feel go to the gym was costly.

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There has been a number of similarity between the non-participation in male and

female. Both groups have the same reason to excuse for their non-participation.

They are both prefer spending their time on social activities or lay down in bed

watching TV, playing games, sleeping, going out for a coffee and seeking a job.

Their schedule always fulfill with many activities, there are no space for physical

activities although they know its advantages. They did not concern much on their

healthy lifestyle; they just head on reality that can help them afford their life.

The relationship

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Work constraints

Financial constraints

Lack of motivation

Time constraints

Busy

with 5 to 9 job

Tired after work

Expensive fee Saving for sth elseLazy No partner

Other activities

Shy

with

Body balance

Not enough time

Take care kids

Conclusion

Many theories have showed the benefits of physical activities but it seem like people did

not concern about it, they excuse many reason for their laziness. This research has

already pointed out that reason and maybe people need to be awake to get a healthy

life, to avoid diseases. They should arrange their timetable to fit exercise. It is possible

to fit exercise in a busy schedule like hire a personal trainer, put together a workout

plan, take exercise class once a week, Put physical activity into all aspects of life: take

the stair instead of the elevator, do housework, walk the dog… While there are many

reasons that people choose not to exercise, there are even more reasons to stick to a

workout program. It is worth rearranging a busy schedule to fit exercise in for a happier

and more productive life. Stop being lazy, being active.

References

CARL J. CASPERSEN, P. M. (n.d.). Physical Activity, Exercise, and Physical Fitness: Definitions and

Distinctions for Health-Related Research.

Channel, B. H. (2014). Physical activity - overcoming the barriers. Bluearth . Retrieved from

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/physical_activity_tips_to_

overcome_the_barriers?open

HR, B. (1995). Research Methods in Anthropology (Second Edition ed.).

Springen, K. (2012). Top 6 Exercise Excuses and How to Beat Them. Retrieved from

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/the-top-6-exercise-excuses-and-how-to-

beat-them?page=2

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Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research : Techniques and Procedures for

Developing Grounded Theory. Sage Publications, Inc.

Waehner, P. (2014). Top 10 Reasons You Don't Exercise. About Health.

Warber, A. (2015). Reasons People Don't Exercise. lovetoknow.

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