I have received the following communication from Jessica Severn J.Severn1@uni.brighton.ac.uk a student at Brighton University (Plumpton). Given riding is not without its risks I think members aged 16 and above who are inclined to participate will be doing something useful and, of course, any of you in tertiary education or planning to go that way will appreciate what it means to have support in research activities.
I will leave it to you to decide if you want to help or not but obviously if I can be of any assistance you only have to ask.
There are two attached documents.
Mike
Dear Mr Nichols,
The frequency of horse rider injury in 16-25 year olds, and the subsequent use of rider's personal protective equipment (P.P.E.)
My name is Jessica Severn, and I am a final third year equine degree student, at Plumpton College in East Sussex.
I am writing to you to ask for your participation in my dissertation, to gain understanding of rider participation as well as the use of the rider's personal protective equipment (P.P.E.), within 16- 25 year olds. This study is designed by Advancing Equine Scientific Excellence with sponsorship from British Equestrian Federation and funding from Sport England and animal nutrition company Alltech. This project is part of the legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
The methods of data collection will be from a grand total of 30 participants, these are broken down into, a questionnaire (depth interviews) (of which a total of 20 participants are required), as well as three focus groups (with a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6 participants at each group). A pilot study will be completed, with the inclusion of three participants for the depth interview, and a further three participants for the focus group. Participants for the focus groups will be independent from the depth interviewees.
The participants will be categorised into three groups, these being current riders- riding a minimum of 30 minutes twice a week, lapsed riders-who have experience riding but no longer ride and new riders- with no riding experience, but keen to join the sport. Data collection will be equal among the groups ( e.g. depth interviews- 6 participants for current riders, 7 for lapsed and 7 for new riders), with one focus group for each of the categories of rider.
The benefit of this research will be, awareness for the British Equestrian Federation of reasons which prevent people from riding, as well as key age groups which would be most interested in partaking in horse riding for the first time. This research would assist in the development of new products to encourage people to continue riding regularly. As well as working alongside riding centres.
The pony club has been chosen to take part in this research, as it is the largest youth organisation in the world, encouraging young people to horse ride, and includes the target age group of 16- 25 year olds. Also the diverse range of riding disciplines within the club, allows a range of riders to be interviewed. Participants are required from the East Sussex area.
In order to complete the questionnaires, I will provide a print out of this. I would ideally attend either training events or committee meetings, whereby I would have a group of participants to complete the questionnaires. A responsible person should be present at these times, this may be in the form of a committee member/ training coach. I am flexible to arrange dates and times to arrange the collection of data, with a deadline of data collection proposed as 4th April 2014.
Participants are not required to write their name on questionnaires/ provide this in focus groups, as an identification code will be assigned to each individual. This will ensure that they remain anonyms, and data is confidential. Data will be stored securely, and kept for two years in accordance with the project guidelines. Each participant will also receive a consent form, agreeing to partake in the study, and conform to the study's procedure.
Please see attached a copy of the questionnaire, as well as the consent form for each participant. Prior to the collection of data, I do require a signed consent form from yourself to allow participants within the Pony Club to partake in the study, and would be grateful if you would email this to me via the email address below.
I very much hope that you accept this opportunity to partake in this study, and look forward to hearing from you, in order to arrange times and dates for data collection.
Yours Sincerely,
Jess Severn J.Severn1@uni.brighton.ac.uk
