Who Ya Callin’ a User? the Impact of How You Define Participants in Campus Recreation

Most research quantifying the value of Campus Recreation uses the number of recreation facility visits as a foundation to define users. In general, however, these studies lack consistency related to definition of user and user groupings. Beyond research, how do Campus Recreation professionals set participation goals without using an arbitrary target for participation? Presenters compare differences between various definitions of users, as well as groupings of student users and non-users of a campus recreation center, using previous and original research. The original research uses data from a three-year timeframe and a multivariate model of student persistence, controlling for various inputs and environmental conditions. Presenters will offer methods and results from their original research, as well as recommendations for how to define and group participants