Sport Surveys study sporting activities and exercise habits and trends in Finland. The surveys were carried out every four years from 1994 to 2010 separately for adult population aged 19 - 65 and for younger persons aged 3 - 18. Topics covered include to what extent and how often Finns take part in sporting or recreational physical activities, what types of sport they do, the role of sports organisations, and willingness to try out new sports. Some questions focus on voluntary work carried out for sports clubs and other organisations, participation in sports events and competitions, and sport spectatorship. In this respect, the scope of the study is extended from exercising habits to citizen participation in sports.
As Finland has four distinct seasons, the data were collected year round to ensure that all types of sport are equally included. Data collection was carried out by Gallup Finland. The surveys were commissioned by, among others, the Finnish Sports Federation (SLU) and the Young Finland Association in co-operation with the Ministry of Education and Culture. The FSD collections cover data from 2001-2002 to 2005-2006.
This survey investigated the sporting activities of Finnish people aged 19-65: how much Finns exercise (exercise habits), in what sports they take part in and what services and facilities they use in their hobbies. Respondents' willingness to participate in different types of sport and their interest in sports organisations were also charted.
Firstly, respondents were asked about all the different sporting and physical activities they participated in, how many times a week they exercised for at least half an hour, and how vigorous the activity was. Respondents characterised their physical and sporting activities on a scale which took into account the regularity, intensity and purpose of the activity (e.g. competing athlete, exercising to remain healthy or to keep fit). Those who did sports were asked which sports facilities they mostly used.
Participation in particular sports was then examined. Respondents were asked questions about the sports they had told they participated in: frequency and duration of that particular activity and whether it was organised by a sporting club, employer, etc. Participation in competitions or tournaments of that particular sport was studied.
Next, respondents were asked which sport, physical activity or form of exercise they would like to participate in, and the reasons for not participating at present. Involvement in voluntary sports work or sports organisations was surveyed, likewise the nature of the work and the amount of time spent in this type of voluntary work. Respondents were asked whether they had attended any sport events as spectators during the past 12 months and in which sports. Views were probed on the importance of Finnish athletes succeeding in international competitions. One question focused on the annual expenditure on sporting activities, paid by respondents themselves.
Background variables included respondents' gender, age, place of residence and municipality, basic and vocational education, occupational group, main activity, and annual gross income of the household. Respondents were also asked which political party they would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at that time, whether there were children aged between 12 and 18 in the household and to how many sports organisations they belong to.
Multistage stratified sampling. Respondents were randomly drawn from a national household telephone directory. The selection was based on quota sampling and only one interview was conducted in each household. Approximately 500 interviews were done monthly from March 2001 onwards, except in July. In total 5,505 interviews were conducted. The aim of the year-round data collection was to include all sports equally regardless of the season (physical activities undertaken often differ from season to season).