Home  >  Resources  >  Research

Student-Athlete Experience Research

Publish date: Sep 1, 2010

Examining the Student-Athlete Experience through the NCAA GOALS Study—Materials presented at the 2011 Faculty Athletics Representatives Association Annual Meeting and Symposium:

Information from the 2010 NCAA GOALS and SCORE Studies

GOALS Study (Growth, Opportunities Aspirations and Learning of Students in college)

Below you will find materials related to the 2010 NCAA Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations and Learning of Students in college (GOALS) study. GOALS is the largest study of student-athletes that the NCAA conducts. These materials were previously distributed via e-mail in December 2009.

GOALS and SCORE Information

During the 2005-06 Academic Year, the GOALS study surveyed over 20,000 student-athletes representing all three divisions and 627 NCAA institutions. Respondents provided information on important topics regarding their lives as student-athletes that included:

  • Academic engagement and success;
  • Athletics experiences;
  • Social experiences and integration;
  • Career aspirations;
  • Physical and mental health and well-being;
  • Campus and team climate, and
  • Time commitments.

The GOALS study is used by NCAA policymakers and member institutions to study the experiences of student-athletes across all sports and NCAA divisions. It also will provide objective and attitudinal data from student-athletes on possible academic and social trade-offs and sacrifices they have made in order to participate in collegiate athletics.

Along with data from the Study of College Outcomes and Recent Experiences (see below for more information), these data will provide the most comprehensive examination to date on the lives and experiences of student-athletes. The GOALS study is being repeated during 2009-10 to assess several new contructs (e.g., recruitment, college finances, ethical behavior) and to gauge changes in aggregate student-athlete experiences from the 2005-06 study.

For more information, please contact Karen Cooper at kcooper@ncaa.org or Michael Miranda at mmiranda@ncaa.org

Study of College Outcomes and Recent Experiences (SCORE):

SCORE is a longitudinal study designed to collect data on former high school and college student-athletes. In all, over 8,000 former student-athletes participated in the 2006 version of the SCORE study. The study is being repeated in 2010 with a new sample of student-athletes.

A primary goal of this project is to characterize the age-related changes in academic attainment and careers for those who were interested in or played college-level sports. Similar to the Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Learning of Students in college study (see above for more information), the topics explored in SCORE related to the impact of the respondent’s educational experiences and athletics participation on his or her current life.

Data collected via the survey covered the following areas:

  • College sports experiences;
  • College educational experiences;
  • Current career and work experiences;
  • Health and well-being, and
  • Daily life experiences.

Along with data from GOALS, these data will provide the most comprehensive examination to-date on the lives and experiences of student-athletes.

For more information, please contact Karen Cooper at kcooper@ncaa.org or Michael Miranda at mmiranda@ncaa.org

Resources:

Related NCAA News Articles: