Participation and leisure surveys 

There are around three million people who go boating each year and in order to monitor this figure and to understand the activities people do and enjoy we have to do the research.

 Across the industry there are a number of surveys undertaken which look at everything from participation figures and levels of satisfaction to different user groups and individual interests.  

Here we look at some of the surveys taking place, explain their importance and why you should take part.    

Sport England Active People Survey

The Active People Survey is the largest survey of sport and active recreation to be undertaken in Europe. Conducted on behalf of Sport England, it identifies how participation varies from place to place and between different groups in the population. 

The survey also measures; the proportion of the adult population that volunteer in sport on a weekly basis, club membership, involvement in organised sport/competition, receipt of tuition or coaching, and overall satisfaction with levels of sporting provision in the local community.

On October 15 2010, Active People Survey 5 (2010/11) commenced and will run continuously for 12 months until 14 October 2011. 

During the course of 2011, quarterly results based on the most recent 12 month rolling period will be published and can be viewed on the Sport England website.   

How is it conducted?  

The survey which takes place throughout England only is conducted by calling home telephone numbers selected at random. Questions might include describing any sporting activity you are involved in, how often you have taken part and whether you have taken instruction in any sporting activity in the last four weeks. 

The survey should only take approximately 15 minutes and the information collected will be kept in the strictest confidence and used for research purposes only.  

Sailing includes: windsurfing or Boardsailing, jet skiing, aqua bike, personal water craft, dinghy racing (including multihull), keelboat racing, and keelboat cruising, yacht racing (including multihull) and yacht cruising (including multihull). Participation ‘once a week’ is defined as at least four days out of the previous 28 days for at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity.  

Why should you take part?  

The results play an important role in helping us to understand the picture of participation in sailing and by staying on the phone and participating in the survey you’ll be helping to raise the profile of the sport and sailing across the county.  

For more information about the Active People Survey visit http://www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey.aspx            

Sport and Recreation Alliance Sports Club Survey

 From 8 March the Sport and Recreation Alliance will be surveying sports clubs in the UK to assess their financial health, just as they did in 2009.  

The information gained from the survey will allow us, and the Sport and Recreation Alliance (on our behalf), to campaign on a wide range of issues including:  

• reduced rates of VAT for clubs 
• lower utility bills       
• drainage         

Good quality data is essential if we are to carry weight with politicians.     

Jon White, RYA Sport Development Manager said: "The more clubs that complete the survey, the louder our voice will be. As a thank you, your completed survey will be entered into a Sports and Recreation Alliance draw to win one of a number of prizes including - a session for your club with an expert who will advise on reducing your bills and provide money-saving tips, and two tickets to the Wimbledon Championships."   

To take part, simply click on the link below and complete the survey as best you can.

It will help if you have your club accounts to hand (all the information you give will be completely confidential) and you may need to ask other members for information about the club. You can save your responses and come back to the survey later if necessary.  

Sport and Recreation Alliance Sports Club survey 2011  

The National Watersports Survey

The National Watersports Survey seeks to benchmark participation rates and monitor trends. This is done by repeating the research year-on-year and 2010 is the ninth year in which this work has been conducted.

The collaborative research group consists of representatives of the RYA, the BMF (British Marine Federation), RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), MCA (Maritime & Coastguard Agency) and the new partner, the BCU - the British Canoe Union  

For more information and to download the 2010 Participation Report click here.