Active People Survey 6

Fieldwork for the sixth wave of the Active People Survey (APS6) began on 15 October 2011.

The survey size (500 interviews per district and single tier local authority) will be the same as Active People Survey 5.

The survey questionnaire will also remain largely unchanged although it will contain more detailed questions about the duration and type of participation in cycling. However, unlike previous survey waves, only 50% of the APS6 survey sample (approximately 80,000 interviews) will be asked the club membership, coaching, competition, and volunteering questions. Following discussion with the Department of Health the dance and gardening questions will be removed from the questionnaire for the start of Active People Survey 6.

Following feedback received from Active People Survey statistics users and working with the Office of National Statistics (ONS), we have recently reviewed the design of the Active People Survey. ONS have indicated that the current survey design is justified and they have confidence the survey is implemented to a high standard.

To ensure Active People continues to meet the high research standards required, APS6 will include a 6,000 sample household survey element. The household interviews also enable us to ask additional questions of these respondents, these new questions have been developed to increase our understanding of motivations and barriers to participating in sport.

In addition and given their importance, the number of 16-25 year olds interviewed as part of APS6 will be boosted by 50% (an additional 6,325 interviews). Together, these changes will ensure that as technology use, market research techniques, and policy priorities all continue to evolve over time the Active People Survey will continue to deliver the highest possible standards of survey design.

Active People Survey 6 results will be published every 6 months. The first set of rolling 12 month results (for the period April 2011 to April 2012) will be released in June 2012. The second set of rolling 12 months results (for the period October 2011 to October 2012) will be released in December 2012.