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Description
In survey research, people regularly respond to questions addressing their sporting activities. However, the meaning of the term ‘sport’ is anything but clear in its colloquial, but also in its scientific use. The paper thus explores if a common understanding of what ‘sport’ is exists in the population and if not, how much the people’s understanding of sport differ from each other. A factorial survey design based on vignettes is used to assess which forms and types of physical activity are classified as sport by respondents. The factorial design was integrated into a representative online survey carried out in Germany in October 2021. With this factorial design it is possible to find out which characteristics an activity must have in order to be regarded by people as a sporting activity. The results show that the respondents do not have a homogeneous understanding of sport: Some sections of the population hold a rather broad and inclusive understanding of sport, while some take a more narrow and exclusive view. Controversy arises particularly around the classification of light, non-competitive and informally practiced physical activities such as yoga, darts, dancing, leisurely cycling or gardening that are not consistently understood as either part of ‘sport’ or not. These findings help assessing the validity of questions related to sports activity in surveys and whether said questions carry different connotations and meanings for different individuals or groups. Based on the results, the paper will discuss implications for improving the quality of respective survey questions.
