Measuring Physical Activity in Youth Settings: Considerations for Instrument Selection

Increasing physical activity participation has become one of the primary strategies for prevention of early-onset health conditions including obesity and Type II diabetes. Youth programs including summer camps and after-school programs are premium providers of physical activity opportunities, but researchers and administrators of these programs must be able to effectively collect and interpret physical activity data to make program adjustments and communicate results. This article reviews existing methods for physical activity measurement including self-reports and objective instruments and makes suggestions for their applicability. Pedometers are covered in-depth as they may be the method of choice in many youth settings. These devices are unobtrusive, have a relatively low cost, and provide excellent data quality. Proper physical activity measurement in youth settings can provide information about effective intervention strategies and may also encourage on-site participants to increase their physical activity frequency

Challenges to Field-Based Outdoor Research: Pitfalls and Possibilities

Research and evaluation in field-based outdoor settings are often needed to assess program outcomes and ascertain ways to improve programs as well as add to a broader body of knowledge. Although outdoor programs foster an array of important outcomes, research in these settings presents challenges. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the pitfalls and possibilities of field-based outdoor research. Examples of some of the issues encountered in field-based outdoor research include: theory-testing in an applied setting, research that spans multiple sites, garnering support from program staff, Institutional Review Board approval and other ethics issues, designing effective staff training, the appropriateness of instruments in field-data collection, uncontrollable events on site, and the role of parents in longitudinal studies. In each of these areas an explanation of the possibilities and problems are articulated related to these issues