Activity Matchmaker Impact Report

Introduction

The Activity Matchmaker is an insight tool developed to help students find suitable sports and societies that have been cleverly matched to their preferences and interests. This follow-up research is to assess the impact that the Activity Matchmaker has had, in relation to whether it has resulted in a change of behaviours. To evaluate this, a survey was developed to analyse each section of the behavioural change cycle (detailed below), to measure comparisons, we assessed people who had completed the Activity Matchmaker, further segmenting this to see the impacts on a segment that is highly involved against a typical disengaged segment, against unsegmented students who had not taken the matchmaker.

The behavioural change cycle is made up of six different stages. Pre-contemplation is whereby people are not considering change and therefore have no intention of changing their behaviour. Contemplation refers to when people are willing to consider change but are usually still highly ambivalent and have no commitment to their actions. Preparation denotes those who have acknowledged that they want to do something or make a change and are seeking options on how to facilitate the changes; they have intent to seek action. Action is whereby someone has decided to do something or make a change and they have sought ways of implementing change and have commitment to a plan, they have an active modification of their behaviour. Maintenance denotes those who have acted on their desire to make a change and made the commitment to making the changes and have been committed to them for some time, their old behaviours have been replaced by the new ones. Those in the relapse stage have previously made changes but for some reason were no able to maintain the commitment to the changes made and have gone back to behaviours that they exhibited prior to change.

To consider each stage, certain questions were asked and it was quantifiable to see at which stage people dropped off the cycle. To fully assess overall behaviours, self-efficacy, motivation and intent were also measured in order to get an overall picture of the students’ behaviours and how they may impact each stage.

The sample of this research was 74 students who were unsegmented and had not used the activity matchmaker tool, and 71 students who were segmented and had used the activity matchmaker; of these 71 students, 31 students had been categorised as segment 3s – Reflective Thinkers - and 40 categorised as segment 4s – Social Butterflies.

To effectively compare the feelings of those who took the survey, those who took the activity matchmaker were compared to those who were not, to find more differences; the students were compared by segment to highlight any disparities.

Self- Efficacy

Self-efficacy aims to measure the amount of self-belief that a person has that they can do something or reach a particular objective. To assess this it was asked if students thought that they were confident that they would be a good addition to a sports club or society and whether they thought that they would be able to maintain the commitment of a club or society.

Comparing segments 3 to segment 4, Social Butterflies were more confident that they would be a good addition to a club or society than Reflective thinkers. This was also the case when Social Butterflies were compared to the unsegmented students.

Considering whether people thought that they would be able to maintain the commitment there were no differences between people who had used the tool compared to those who hadn’t.

Motivation

To evaluate the students’ motivations to join a sports club or society, it was asked if they thought that there would be anything that would interfere with them joining a sports club or society and what they thought that the benefits of joining a society would be.

What may interfere with joining a sports club or society?

The graph details the distribution of answers – which were coded thematically – and has examples of what was said in the sections below.

Other commitments - 36.84%

  • Karnival
  • NAA
  • Involved in other organisations outside of University.
  • Welcome week.
  • Nightline.
  • Volunteering.
  • Travelling.
  • Enactus.
  • Other societies and sports.

Social Life – 15.79%

  • Going out.
  • Relationships.
  • Socialising.

Time – 7.89%

  • Limited time.
  • Timing of lectures.
  • Finding time to complete around study.

University Work – 42.11%

  • Degree.
  • Course commitments.
  • Academic pursuits.
  • Course workload.
  • Classes.

Work – 34.21%

  • Part-time job.
  • Paid work.

What do you think are the benefits to joining a sports club or society?

This question assessed, using a free-text response, what the students who took the survey thought the benefits of joining a sports club or society were. These responses have been coded into groups, and the graph below shows what percentage of answers talked about the categories shown.

HobbiesFocusSportGetting to Know more PeopleNew SkillsLike-minded PeopleMeet New PeopleSimilar InterestsFriendsShare a CommonSocialExpandingActiveHealth

Break From University – 10.77%

  • Distraction.
  • Filling free time.
  • Making time to focus on something other than my thesis.
  • Taking a break from academia.
  • Break from University work.
  • Release from University work.

Employability – 6.15%

  • Potential for leadership roles.
  • Something good to put on your CV.
  • Gives you appropriate experiences of different skills.
  • Learning new and valuable experiences.

Fitness/Health – 43.08%

  • Keeping active.
  • Fitness.
  • Practice the sport that I like.
  • Health –mental and physical.
  • Exercise.
  • Getting in shape.
  • Fun way to keep active.
  • Good workout motivation.

Fun – 20%

  • Fun.
  • The experience is fun and enjoyable as a whole!
  • A feeling of belonging somewhere and having a good time.

Skills – 21.54%

  • Gain skills.
  • Learn new skills.
  • Team work skills.
  • Learning soft skills.
  • Acquiring new skills and honing own techniques.
  • Development of skills.

Help Others – 1.54%

  • Help others.

Hobbies – 12.31%

  • Enjoying various hobbies.
  • Meeting others who share common interests.
  • Hobbies.
  • Picking up new hobbies.

Meeting New People – 81.54%

  • Make friends with people who have the same interests.
  • Social experiences with people who share common interests.
  • Meet new people.
  • Meeting people.
  • Make more friends.
  • Getting to know more people.
  • Expanding social circle.
  • Mixing with people outside of your course.
  • A good way to meet likeminded people.
  • Making new friends.

Socialising – 49.23%

  • Socialising.
  • Strong social group.
  • Social aspects.
  • Good chance to socialise.
  • The best way to have a busy social life.

Stress Relief – 1.54%

  • Stress relief.

Team Work – 3.08%

  • Team work skills.
  • Team work.

Time Management – 3.08%

  • Encourages you to manage your time.
  • Have commitments.

Try Something New – 10.77%

  • Try new things.
  • Learning about new things.
  • New experiences.

Intent

To measure the student’s intentions of joining a sports club or society, they were asked if they intended to join a sports club or society. There were no differences between those who had used the tool and those who had not in their initial intention, which makes the findings more interesting. Social Butterflies had the highest average score, meaning they had more intention of joining than both Reflective Thinkers and the unsegmented students.

Pre-contemplation

To assess who was at the pre-contemplation stage, students were asked whether they knew how to join a club.

Comparing those who had used the tool against those who had not, students who had taken the Activity Matchmaker were more likely to know how to join a club than those who had not. This is interesting given that there were no more intentions of those who took the matchmaker than those who had not.

Breaking this finding down further to look at segmentation differences, it can be seen that significantly more segment 3s knew how to join a club than segment 9 (sig level = .047). It is important to remember that Reflective Thinkersare a historically disengaged group of students who do not have a large amount of involvement in the SU, however on this occasion; they are more aware and have a deeper understanding than the unsegmented students. It cannot be determined that this is solely down to the Activity Matchmaker, but it gives good understanding that using the tool has allowed for further knowledge than not doing so, even at this pre-contemplation stage.

Contemplation

Evaluating the contemplation stage was done by asking students if they knew what being a member of a club basically entailed and whether they saw themselves becoming a member.

Whilst there were no statistically significant findings at this behavioural change stage, those who had completed the Activity Matchmaker scored higher on average in relation to knowing what being a member basically entailed than those who had not used to tool.

There were no significant differences between those who had used the Activity Matchmaker and those who had not on whether they saw themselves becoming a member of a club during university.

Preparation

To consider the preparation stage, students were asked if they wanted to actively seek a membership and whether they were prepared to try being a member.

When comparing those who had used the Activity Matchmaker against those who had not those who had used the tool were significantly more likely to actively seek a membership than those who had not use the tool (sig level = .021).

When comparing segment 4 to segment 9, it can be seen that significantly more Social Butterflies wanted to actively seek a membership than the unsegmented students (sig level = .014).

There were no significant differences overall in those who had used the matchmaker compared to those who had not when it came to whether students were prepared to try being a member or not, however those who had used the tool said they were more prepared to try being a member on average than those who had not used the tool.

Action

To assess the action stage, students were asked if they were in the process or had recently become a member, or whether they had become a member.

When comparing those who had used the Activity Matchmaker against those who had not those who had used the tool were more likely to be in the process of becoming or recently become a member than those who had not use the tool (sig level = .066).

Comparing Reflective Thinkers to the unsegmented students, it can be seen that the more segment 3 students were in the process or had recently become a member than the unsegmented students (sig level = .052).

There were no significant differences in those who had become a member of a sports club or a society when comparing those who had used the tool to those who had not. However the average score and number of people in who took the survey can be examined. 25% of those who had used the Activity Matchmaker had become a member of a sports club or society compared to 15% of those who had not used the tool.

Maintenance

To evaluate maintenance, the students were asked how likely they thought it was that they would drop out of a club.

There were no between segment significant differences across any of the groups or segments.Considering people who had completed the Activity Matchmaker against those who had not, people who had completed the matchmaker believed that they were able to maintain the commitment to a sports club or society more than those who had not completed the matchmaker.

Relapse

Considering relapse, students were asked whether they had previously been a member of a club, and were then asked to choose a statement which they felt reflected them the best – the options were whether they would re-join the same club, re-join a different club or whether neither applied.

There were no between segment significant differences between any groups in whether people were previously members - which makes it harder to understand which groups are more likely to relapse - and we don't know how to counteract this.

Considering the statements, there were not many differences between those who had used the tool and those who had not. Only slightly more, 14%, of students who used the matchmaker would re-join any club or society whether it be the same as the one before or a different one, compared to the 12% of students who said they would re-join any but had not used the tool.

Overall Behavioural Change

To assess any differences that the matchmaker made, it was asked whether students had thought about joining a club, whether they were aware of the clubs that they could join and whether they wanted to join a club.

There were no significant differences between segments or those who took the Activity Matchmaker and those who did not prior to taking the Activity Matchmaker. Comparing the scores of those who took the matchmaker to those who did not, the average answers across the board showed more desire and likelihood of wanting to join, an increase in awareness and contemplation.

The graph below details the differences in the behaviour change cycle for those who took the Activity Matchmaker against the control group who had not used the tool.

Whilst the two groups follow similar patterns and trends, there is a much more obvious drop off after preparation for those who did not use the matchmaker.

Considerations

The findings show that whilst the Activity Matchmaker had increased the first three stages of behaviour change, it cannot facilitate the action or maintenance stage. Whilst the graph shows that there is an impact on the action and maintenance stages, to ensure that engagement in these stages increases it needs to be followed up with an effective communications plan. It is important to note that there were not any differences in intentions, which makes it more interesting that students who used the tool were more engaged and further along the behaviour change wheel.

Overall, it can be concluded that using the tool has increased awareness, desire and knowledge amongst students and that using it makes the students more likely to become members or consider joining a club. Pairing this with an effective communication plan and follow-up strategy should increase engagement with clubs and societies, even amongst students who are typically disengaged.