Identification and Classification of Effective Environmental Factors in Popularity of Recreational Sports in Iran

This study aimed to identify and rank the most important environmental factors for the popularity of recreational sports in Iran. Only those sensitive aspects of the environment to which recreational sports should react were considered in order to survive. This study was performed consecutively in two qualitative and quantitative phases by mixed heuristic method. For this purpose the experts of recreational sports of Iran were consulted in the qualitative stage to gather their information through in-depth questionnaire. Sampling was made by snowball method. Data obtained from twenty nine interviews was coded and analyzed by data-based theorization in three stages. The result of classification was six effective ambient factors. In the quantitative stage a questionnaire was designed based on the findings from the previous part. Upon reviewing and confirming psychometric characteristics, the questionnaires were distributed among 301 individuals engaged in public sports in Iran and selected by stratified random sampling method. Then the factors were specified by the order of priority through hierarchical regression analysis taking into account route coefficient for prediction of effective ambient factors. These factors include social ambient, economic ambient, political-legal ambient, cultural ambient, and international ambient.