Research Project One page proposal Timm Ringhofer Kevin Erickson Tim Mellstrom International Falls Cohort March 17, 1999

The idea for a thesis paper came about through interaction with a parents concern over their child's academic performance while in sports and when they were not in a sport. The concern was that the child performed better academically while in a sport as a compared to when he was not in a sport.

After hours of debate, we have decided that we are going to research the grades of senior athletes in varsity hockey and basketball. We will compare those grades with a sample population of non-athletes during the winter sports season. We will be comparing grade point averages from the second and third quarters.

We will be focusing on both male and female non-athletes and athletes throughout our research project. We will compare the male athlete and the male non-athlete, the female athlete and the female non-athlete. We are going to make comparisons between male athletes and female athletes along with comparing the male non-athlete and the female non-athlete. The Grade Point Average will be the main focus in comparing the non-athlete and the athlete.

The subjects will be former seniors at Falls High School in International Falls, Minnesota. The classes that we will be looking at will be the graduating classes of 1996, 1997 and 1998. At this time permission has been granted through the Falls High School Administration staff.

At this point in time we have researched and found several relevant sources through the inter-library loan. The ERIC system has proved fruitful and very efficient when it comes to researching the topic of athletics and academic performance.

We are posing the question: Will sports during the winter sports season have an effect on the academic performance (measured by GPA) of the student athlete as compared to the non-athlete with both males and females.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 1999

Answers

Hi Timm, Tim and Kevin; Your topic should bring about some interesting results and it sounds like you have good support from your administration. You are being inclusive in your study, but just a few points - you need to list resources you will be using and in your 10-page proposal, be sure to follow the format suggested. Enjoy the process, Mary Ann

-- Anonymous, March 21, 1999