Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

5-20-1970

Abstract

Statement of the Problem. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the Activity Selection Questionnaire created for this study measured the activation, competitiveness, and sociability dispositions of individuals. The secondary purposes were (1) to determine whether there were any differences between subjects' scores made on the criteria measurements (Thayer Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List, Gough and Heilbrun's Aggression and Affiliation scales from the Adjective Check List) and the high and low grouped scores of subjects on the measurements assumed to be comparable (activation, competitive, and sociability) of the Activity Selection Questionnaire; and (2) to determine whether those subjects enrolled in golf, tennis, and basketball classes differed from each other in activation, competitiveness, and sociability.

Methods. All measurement devices were administered to 150 subjects, 64 males and 86 females, enrolled in physical education classes at The University of New Mexico of which 62 were enrolled in golf, 61 in tennis, and 27 in basketball classes. The Activity Selection Questionnaire consisted of fifty questions in the form of a force-choice or semipaired-comparison format. The selections, of which the subjects were to choose, were a combination of 25 activities which were randomly paired. These 25 activities were rated by five judges, instructors in physical education, for their degree of strenuousness, competitiveness, and sociability to determine a score for each of the activities on these dimensions. Based on the choices a subject made between each pair of activities, a subject received a total score for activation, for competitiveness, and for sociability. After each subject completed the Activity Selection Questionnaire, they were given 12 copies of the Thayer Activation­Deactivation Adjective Check Lists (AD-ACLs) to fill out for three days, four times a day; at bedtime, when they awoke, at lunchtime, and at dinner time. Averages were computed from their scores giving a General Activation level score for each subject. After the administration of the Activity Selection Questionnaire and the AD-ACLs, the subjects completed the Gough and Heilbrun Adjective Check List (ACL). The ACL is a personality instrument consisting of 300 adjectives. The subjects were asked to choose those adjectives which were self-descriptive. Of the 24 scales available from the ACL, only the Aggression and Affiliation need scales were considered. The same form of the Activity Selection Questionnaire was given to the subjects six weeks after the initial testing to determine test-retest reliability.

Results. The results indicated a slight relationship between the AD-ACL activation scores and the activation scores of the questionnaire. There was a significant difference found at the five per cent level of confidence, between the AD-ACL scores and the high and low grouped scorers on the activation measurement of the questionnaire. There were also significant differences found between subjects in golf, tennis, and basketball classes on the AD-ACL, activation, and sociability measurements of the questionnaire. Using sex as a variable, the only significant difference found was on the competitive measure of the questionnaire. This sex difference indicated however, that females chose more frequently than did the males, activities which were rated as noncompetitive. The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was .799 indicating that subjects' choices of activities were consistent over a period of six weeks.

Conclusions. On the basis of the results received, it was concluded that there was some validity supporting the activation measurement of the questionnaire only. It was recommended, however, that the Activity Selection Questionnaire not be used for measuring activation, competitiveness, nor sociability dispositions of individuals until further research could be done.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Physical Education, Sports and Exercise Science

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Frances McGill

Second Committee Member

Miles Vernon Zintz

Third Committee Member

Ella May Small

Fourth Committee Member

Karl Peter Koenig

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