International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue VI, June 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Aina, Olufunke Olayinka
Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education,
Faculty of Education,
Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
Abstract: This study investigated the determinants of sports participation in extramural competition by athletes in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design of the survey type was used for this study. The population of the study comprised all athletes in 5 private and 4 public tertiary institutions in Ekiti State. The research is descriptive because it is concerned with the collection of data for the purpose of describing and interpreting existing condition on practice, beliefs, and attitude regarding athletes’ participation in sporting activities. The choice of this design is aimed at collecting data on and observing in systematic manner, the characteristics, feature of facts about determining factor to sports participation by athletes in tertiary institutions in Ekiti State. Therefore, this design is considered appropriate for this study. The sample of this study comprised 300 athletes selected from tertiary institutions in Ekiti State. Proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to select 3 publics institutions and 1 private institution in Ekiti State while simple random sampling technique was used to select athletes from each institution which comprised 125 Ekiti State University athletes, 75 Federal Polytechnic athletes, 50 College of Education athletes and 50 Afe Babalola University Athletes, making a total of 300 athletes selected altogether. A questionnaire developed by the researcher titled ‘Athletes Sports Participation Questionnaire (ASPQ)’ was used to elicit information for the study. The questionnaire is made up of four (4) sections, A, B, C and D. Section A was used to collect bio data of respondents (to include age, level, Department, Faculty and name of institution). Section B addressed participation level of the respondents in extramural sports competitions such frequency of participation in the last 4 years and the type of sporting events performed. Section C was used to measure the level of availability of standard sports facilities such as soccer field, basketball court, volleyball court, handball court, hockey pitch, badminton court, athletic track, athletic field, swimming pool, cricket pitch and tennis courts. To determine the respondents view in this section, ordinal scale of ‘available and not-available responses were used. Section D was designed to address determinant of participation variables such as provision of incentives by institutions. To determine the respondents’ views in this section D, four points likert scale type of responses raging from Strongly Agree (SA) 4 points, Agree (A) 3 points, Disagree (D) 2 points and Strongly Disagree (SD) 1 point was specified against each item. In order to ensure face and content validity of the instrument, a draft copy of the instrument was presented to experts in sports administration as well as Tests, Measurement and Evaluation for criticism, correction and modification. The copy of corrected and modified version of the instrument was prepared for final use. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained through pilot study, which involved 20 copies of the instrument administered on the respondents in Federal University Oye which is not part of the selected institutions.