Recruiting the Student-athlete: An Examination of the College Decision Process

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate a new instrument rooted in a strong theoretical background to more aptly measure and understand factors influencing college decisions of student-athletes. To accomplish this goal, four commonly used instruments and one semi-structured interview were dissected. Upon dissection, like/identical items from each past instrument were grouped together creating a 52 items instrument. Each of the 52 items was then reviewed in reference to the social exchange theory. Those fitting the theoretical framework were kept, while those do fitting the theory were dropped. The instrument was then sent to a panel of reviewers leading to small modifications within the instrument. In the end, a 28 items instrument with face and content validity was left. This instrument was then distributed to current student-athletes at a midsize, Southeastern University. A total of 102 usable questionnaires were returned. Analysis of the results found each of the ascribed factors to be important to student-athletes when choosing a college. Furthermore, the application of the social exchange theory allowed for a discussion of why various factors were found to be more or less valued by student-athletes.

keywords:

• recruiting
• college athletics
• social exchange theory