School Age Children’s (5-11) Exercise, Research Paper Example

I would like to research school age children’s (5-11) exercise regime outside of school. The purpose of the study would be to provide a framework for policymakers and community health professionals to develop programs that match children’s expectations. While the school P.E. (physical education) curriculum is constantly monitored and modified, many children get to school in their parents’ car, or on the school bus, and the weekly classes do not cover children’s exercise needs. The research hypothesis would be:

H: Children in families where parents regularly exercise are more likely to take part in out-of-school sport activities.

The independent variable for the research would be the gender of children. This variable was selected because it would allow the researcher to determine gender differences, and create recommendations based on the preferences determined for school aged girls and boys.

The dependent variable would be the number of hours spent with physical activity outside of school. This variable was selected, as it is an indicator of fitness, and health, and would help community health professionals create programs that suit children’s preferences and lifestyle.

The research would highlight issues related to school aged children’s lifestyle and exercise regime, therefore, it would need to use a quantitative approach, provide statistics and gender/age comparisons. Further, the quantitative approach was selected to analyze data and determine correlations. Through statistics and the findings of the study, the author could highlight the gap between children’s need of physical exercise and their actual regime. Further, the author would like to determine whether or not parents’ lifestyle affects children’s exercise regime outside of school. The research would be completed using a quantitative analysis of findings, to measure correlations between the level of fitness, children’s preferences, gender, and age.