My Psychology Project on Skiers

Here it is. The people who took it wanted it posted, so Ill do it here. Its pretty long, but alot of work has gone into it, its just missing the bar graphs. Hope you enjoy!



Independent Study Unit
“Risky Business”

When this project was assigned, I immediately knew that I wanted my topic to incorporate the action sports community in some way, yet I was very unsure how. After much thinking, I came to a conclusion; to look at the reason why people participate in these sports, even though they are so dangerous. I then began my research by looking into activities such as skydiving, bungee jumping, and bull riding. After making note after note, there was one major element common among the aforementioned activities. This element was the presence of a death wish. I had then decided that my hypothesis was to discover if: the majority of participants in the action sports community do have a death wish and or some element of disregard for their own safety.

Although they may not appear very safe, these sports are very calculated. Riders know their limits, and do not attempt to exceed them to a point of danger. As a matter of fact, more people get hurt simply skiing than those who are spending their days in the terrain parks. It takes a lot of time and practice to acquire the basic skills needed, let alone advancing your abilities further. However, just like learning to walk, learning new tricks takes baby steps, and the occasional fall, but for us, the reward heavily outweighs the risk. Landing that next trick is like scoring the winning touch down at City Finals or swishing the buzzer beater at NOSSA- it is a rush that can’t be matched, and that’s why we do it. Like anything, there are many risks present, but the use of helmets and other protective equipment help to eliminate serious injury.

I began to think of friends of mine in who freestyle ski and snowboard, and began to think, “Do they really care if they get hurt or not?” Yet, it is very difficult to think for someone else, so a survey was in order. That’s where the survey segment of my project came in. I constructed a survey of twenty questions to be given to 85 skiers off of the website www.newschoolers.com, and 15 snowboarders. The surveys will be completed via messaging functions on the website, and then their answers will be printed for future reference. I will make an advertisement for the survey, selecting 100 members at random from that designated group whom displayed interest in completing the survey. I did this so the people who did my survey would most likely complete the survey, and be honest when answering. I didn’t want any trouble makers taking my survey who would try to skew the results. The survey itself went well, they were completed quickly and all were completed properly with few problems.

The results to the survey are listed on the following page, with the percentage of responses beside each option:

Survey Responses:

Question 1. Age
a) Fourteen- 6%
b) Fifteen- 19%
c) Sixteen- 32%
d) Seventeen- 27%
e) Eighteen- 16%

Question 2. Location
a) Canada- 35%
b) Unites States- 54%
c) Other- 4%(Australia), 2%(Denmark), 5%(Norway)

Question 3. Sport
a) Ski- 85%
b) Snowboard- 15%

Question 4. Death Wish
a) No- 34%
b) Yes- 66%

Question 5. Music
a) Country- 0%
b) Indie- 20%
c) Pop- 9%
d) Rap- 39%
e) Rock- 32%

Question 6. Positive/Negative Thinker
a) Half Empty- 16%
b) Half Full- 74%

Question 7. Independence
a) In a Group- 58%
b) Alone- 42%

Question 8. Awareness of Danger
a) Always- 8%
b) Sometimes- 86%
c) Never- 8%

Question 9. Family Values
a) Accept- 76%
b) Do Not Accept- 24%

Question 10. Introvert/Extrovert
a) Keep to Yourself- 21%
b)Start Conversation- 79%

Question 11. Favourite Colour
a) Red- 12%
b) Yellow- 6%
c) Orange- 12%
d) Blue- 36%
e) Green- 34%

Question 12. Skill Level
a) Above Average- 39%
b) Average- 47%
c) Below Average- 14%

Question 13. Dedication
a) Yes- 90%
b) No- 0%
c) Take a Break- 10%

Question 14. Video Games
a) Realistic- 45%
b) Unrealistic- 25%
c) I Don’t Play Video Games- 35%

Question 15. Appealing Words
a) Fight- 25%
b) Battle- 24%
c) Resist- 18%
d) Rebel- 33%

Question 16. Death Wish, #2
a) Alone- 12%
b) With Someone Else- 76%
c) Not at All- 12%

Question 17. Lying
a) Face- 28%
b) Words- 12%
c) Face and Words- 60%

Question 18. Misspelled Words
a) Judgment- 49%
b) Rottweiler- 12%
Ferguson 4
c) Lasso- 0%
d) Mimick- 39%

Question 19. Personal Anger
a) Yes- 0%
b) Sometimes- 26%
c) Rarely- 73%
d) Never- 1%

Question 20. Grade Averages
a) Below 50%- 0%
b) 50%-60%- 4%
c) 60%-70%- 8%
d) 70%-80%- 18%
e) 80%-90%- 43%
f) Above 90%- 27%

________________________________________________________________________

The results were close to what I had expected, and also confirmed my hypothesis. In both questions that indirectly asked if the respondents had a death wish, on average, 77% of people surveyed have been shown to have a death wish. I was expecting no more than two thirds of subjects to have had a death wish, yet my findings proved otherwise. Listed below are five questions from the survey that were of importance, along with a brief description of each.

Question 4. Have you, or will you ever try skydiving?
This question was rather forward in its meaning, but was asked again in a different was to ensure accuracy. This question indirectly asked the respondents if they had a death wish, by asking them if they have, or ever will go skydiving. Skydiving was used as an example because it is a much feared activity, and those who partake in it, and have undergone psycho-analysis have been proven to have a death wish.



Question 6. Is this glass below half empty or half full?
Question 6 was asked to find out if the individuals surveyed were pessimists(negative thinkers) or optimists (positive thinkers), using the “glass half empty or half full” test. A picture of a glass, with half of it containing water was presented to the subjects. Saying that the glass is half full shows optimism and a positive outlook on ones situation. Saying the glass is half empty emits pessimism and the idea that ones situation is hopeless. As a result, 16% of people surveyed were coined to be pessimists while 84% have been deemed optimists.


Question 10. In a party environment, would you most likely to keep to yourself or start conversation?
The goal of Question 10 was to see if there was a correlation between the amount of people with a death wish, and the amount of people who were extroverts. This question asked, that when in a party environment, is the subject most likely to keep to themselves, or initiate conversation. The results showed that 21% of people surveyed are introverts, while 79% of respondents are extroverts.



Question 13. If you were to be injured (broken bone, concussion) participating in the action sport you take part in, would you return to that sport as soon as you recover?
The purpose of this question was to see how dedicated the individuals were to their sport. Each subject was asked if they were injured participating in their sport, would they return to their sport as quickly as possible? It was concluded that 90% of respondents said that they would return to their sport as soon as they could, while only 10% said that they would take a break to recuperate and heal. As for myself, I have suffered a sprained thumb, water on the knee, concussion, and a dislocated arm, but I return to the sport I love as soon as I can.


Question 16. If all the of the following options were equally safe, would you rather
sail around the world alone, with someone else, or not at all?
This was the second death wish question, to verify the validity and accuracy of the first death wish question. Question 16 asked if the respondent would rather sail around the world alone, with someone else, or not at all given all three options were equally safe. This confirmed the first death wish inquiry, as both answers showed that the majority of respondents indeed have a death wish.






Upon review of the results, I could not help but feel that some respondents were dishonest on their survey. For example, on the question asking if you “find yourself often angry”, one respondent said that he “Is never angry”, which I find very hard to believe. He was the only person to select than answer out of one hundred respondents. Thinking about this logically, at some point, everyone is angry about something. Looking back, I feel than I could have worded that question differently; instead asking, “Do you find yourself easily frustrated or lacking patience in stressful situations?” I believe in doing so, I would have received more realistic responses.Another enquiry that I felt I could have conveyed better was the question asking of their skill levels, whether they were an above average, average, or below average skier/snowboarder. Nearly 40% of the people surveyed claimed they were an above average skier. Even though the survey was totally anonymous, people still want to be viewed as a more talented individual. To correct this, I could have asked if they are able to perform certain tricks, such as a basic 360, 540, 720 or better. This would have allowed them a chance to give an accurate description of their skill level, without feeling the need to conform to being “average”.

The last question that I could have improved on was the question asking what each person’s current school average was. Much like the skill level question above, people would give false answers to be seen as smarter or more intelligent. For example, 27% of respondents claimed to have an above 90% average. Aside from that, I was impressed with the honesty in that question as well. 4% of people said they have a 50%-60% average, and 8% of individuals answered that they have a 60%-70% average. Once again, I can not be certain that people were being dishonest, but the answers did not seem realistic in comparison to the average of students at Lasalle Secondary for the same grade range.

Although I participate in freestyle skiing, I do not feel that I have a death wish. I believe that I fall along with the other 29% of respondents that do not have a death wish. I would never go skydiving, bungee jumping, or sail around the world. I guess that is because I don’t have any control over those activities. I can’t control the speed of my free-fall to the ground when jumping out of an airplane, I can’t control where the bungee cable whips me after it reaches maximum tension, and I surely can not control the roughness of the sea. However, I can control my speed, my agility, and my balance when skiing. It must be that I have practiced enough for skiing to be second nature to me. Don’t get me wrong, I still support my hypothesis and the fact that the majority of respondents do indeed have a death wish, but I’m simply just not one of them.

To be honesyt, I rather enjoyed spending my time completing this assignment, as it was about a topic that I have a passion for. Writing the survey itself was rather satisfying, and I didn’t mind the research portion, but the part I really disliked was the counting and sorting the surveys. At one hundred people, and twenty questions per survey, that’s two thousand results to transfer from the computer, tally, write down, and transfer back to the computer. That was the time consuming part. However, next time I do a survey, I will be sure to administer it in person, as taking my survey results from the


computer created an unnecessary step. It was very difficult and confusing to do this, and would have been much easier to have handed out actual surveys, and collect my information from those once they were returned.

Many of the people that I surveyed were curious to see the final results, and I plan to post this report on www.newschoolers.com for everyone to see. The freestyle ski community is very small, with only six freestyle skiers in all of Sudbury. I think that posting this will offer insight to those on the website, and possibly interest them to do the same as I did. Incorporating your interests into school work makes it something to look forward to doing. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do this project, as it opened my eyes to see who we, as a community really are.