Sport England - Active People Survey
Measuring participation in sport and culture
The Active People Survey (APS) is one of the largest ever surveys of sport and active recreation to be undertaken. It was commissioned by Sport England, the leading sports development agency in England.
The main aim of the survey is to measure changes in the levels of participation in sport in England and its contribution to improving the health of the nation. When measuring sports participation the survey not only records the type of activity but also the frequency, intensity and duration of the activity. The survey also measures:
- the level of sport volunteering
- sport club membership of individual sports
- involvement in organised sport/competition
- receipt of tuition or coaching
- satisfaction with levels of sporting provision in the local community
The surveys
The survey provides a representative sample of people aged 16 and over living in each of the 300+ local authorities in England. Ipsos MORI was commissioned to run the first Active People Survey (APS1) survey following competitive tendering. The first survey ran from October 2005 to October 2006 and comprised 363,724 telephone interviews.
In August 2007, Ipsos MORI was awarded the contract to conduct the follow-up surveys (APS2, 3 and 4). These surveys will achieve over half a million interviews over a three year period - starting in October 2007 and finishing in October 2010.
Cultural measures - Arts, museums and libraries
The surveys also capture information for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide a baseline for measurement of local authorities achievement against three government policy targets to increase:
- attendance at museums and galleries
- use of library services
- attendance of creative, artistic, theatrical or musical events and actual participation in these activities
Results
The survey results are published by Sport England (to see results click here) and anyone can undertake their own detailed analysis of the data by registering to use Active People Diagnostic, a bespoke online reporting tool (designed and developed for Sport England by Ipsos MORI). There are over 5,000 registered users of the Diagnostic and to register as a user please click here.
Further information about the Active People Survey can be found on the Sport England website.