activity level & well-being during covid-19
Design Research Methods: journal study | survey design | quantitative & qualitative Analysis | participant recruitment
OVERVIEW
Topic: The link between exercise and mood has been well-established by medical science and still serves as a popular area of research, unfortunately much less information is known about the connection between general activity and mood. The COVID-19 pandemic provides an excellent chance to view a sharp demarcation between general activity levels across large scales, a rare opportunity, as collecting this type of data would be nearly impossible otherwise. This project aims to provide deeper insight as to the importance of taking a holistic view on the subject.
Objective: Use journal studies to compare differences in activity levels between pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 and determine whether changes in overall physical activity affect mood.
Assumptions:
People currently spend more time at home when compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
People who spend more time at home are likely to be less active.
Studies indicate that there is a connection between exercise and well-being in that participating in regular exercise can improve mood. Due to the pandemic restricting the ability to interact and assemble indoors people will have to stay at home for longer periods of time. With a restricted ability to move about the world people’s general activity is effectively reduced and it is predicted that this lowered amount of activity will have an impact on feelings of well-being.
RESEARCH PLAN
Compare weekly activity levels between pre-COVID-19 and the present (November 2020) using self reported data and analyze changes. To accomplish this, quantitative data was collected from participants in two steps:
A retrospective journal to prompt recall of a typical week pre-pandemic and establish a baseline for comparison.
A daily journal to record current activity level in the present.
At the end of the week, qualitative data was collected in an open-ended survey to to assess effects on mood.
PARTICIPANTS
Ohio residents with full-time commitments both before and during COVID-19.
In order to get a better picture of how activity levels changed across the selected time period participants were selected from groups that would have similar time commitments throughout. Because this study is aimed at adults, each group needed to be engaged in full-time commitments during the entire period to help mitigate variance in the data collected from fluctuations in activity level which don’t correspond to COVID-19. Three groups emerged:
RESEARCH METHOD
Journals
Recording of activity level was separated into 2 types:
Informal: general activity, being up-and-about for ordinary tasks
Formal: time specifically set aside for exercise
Survey
The follow-up survey asked participants to reflect on changes in activity level between the two time periods in their own words. The goal was to gain insight into how participants' perception of their own well-being was affected.
ANALYSIS
Quantitative Findings–Journal Data:
More people currently stay at home during the work/school day.
No change in the proportion of participants who engaged in formal exercise.
Change in Activity Level Outside the Home Pre-COVID-19 Vs. During COVID-19:
80% of participants saw a reduction in informal activity outside of the home during COVID-19.
As an average across participants, there is approximately a 50% reduction in informal activity outside the home.
Due to the length of time for recall participants were not asked to detail their daily activities pre-COVID-19, however, to gain a better understanding of their current balance of activities participants were asked to categorize them along three broad categories: formal exercise, informal activity, and time spent sitting.
Owing to the finding in early analysis that the proportion of participants who engaged in formal exercise or not remained steady across the two time periods (i.e. those who already exercised previously remained doing so and those who did not also did not start during COVID-19) it was decided that these groups should be broken up for further analysis.
Activity Level At Home During COVID-19 by Category:
All participants spent the majority of the week sitting.
By splitting the groups into those who had exercised pre-COVID-19 and those who didn’t, an interesting result was found. The group that exercised pre-COVID-19 had an ~13% higher informal activity level than the non-exercising group. The discrepancy is unaccounted for by the exercise itself as all but one participant exercised in the home and the difference in activity levels far exceeds the commute of a single person to the gym. Further research would be needed to determine the causal relationship between these two factors, however, it does agree with the literature as people who exercise tend to be more active in general.
Qualitative Findings–Survey Data:
Informal Activity:
Participants reported a reduction in purpose or reason to engage in activity outside the home.
Formal Activity:
Motivation to exercise not affected for the group that exercised pre-COVID-19.
The group that didn't exercise prior to COVID-19 cited lower motivation to exercise in the present.
Mood:
All participants reported that their mood decreased.
Emotional affects include feeling less energetic and productive, and reduced enjoyment of activities.
affinity diagramming
Despite stating no change in the amount of motivation to exercise, the group who exercised pre-COVID-19 still experienced a reduction in overall activity while the group who didn’t exercise pre-COVID-19 experienced a decrease in motivation to exercise along with a reduction in activity. It may be possible that exercising has an inoculative effect on an individual’s motivation to engage in and maintain general activity which might help explain the difference in outcome between the two groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
The journal studies show a correlation between lower overall activity level and general well-being. According to the data collected, reduction in physical activity correlates to a reduction in mood, regardless of the type of physical activity. This study would serve as preliminary work for future studies to better understand a causal linkage or to better explain the role exercise takes in relation to general activity.
Challenges & Takeaways:
Journal Design
When creating questions it can be difficult to find a balance between using simple language that is broad enough to be understood by many people, but at the same time specific enough to generate usable data. Providing a completed journal with examples for reference could help reduce participant misunderstanding and/or incomplete data collection.
Survey Design
Eliminating biases is impossible and is especially challenging with open-ended surveys. Conducting interviews following the survey would allow participants to clarify and expand upon their responses providing further insight. Additionally, interviews are useful when individuals find it hard to express themselves by writing, so in that sense it could be used as an alternative when needed which would be particularly beneficial when performing small data set analysis.