Recreating Retention

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in intramural sports and student satisfaction with the collegiate experience. In addition the study investigated differences among users of the program and amount of participation in regards to perceptions of student satisfaction. The study also introduced the Campus Recreation Participation Ladder as a heuristic model specific to campus recreation professionals (CRPL). The instrument used for testing the research questions was the College Senior Survey, developed and supplied by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). Scales were created for analysis of the data and were found to be reliable with a Cronbach's Alpha calculation of at least 0.7 for each scale. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between users and nonusers regarding perceptions about satisfaction with academic life and satisfaction with campus life participation. No significant difference between users and nonusers was found on the scales of leadership and happiness, suggesting that participation in intramural sports has limited or no effect on a student's satisfaction with leadership development opportunities and overall happiness. Satisfaction levels of users based on the amount of participation were approaching significance and warrants further investigation. Implications of the results on the use of the CRPL are discussed and further suggestions for future research are listed.