Back

Our daughter is enrolling in the university here in our own state. We were surprised by how much paperwork she had to complete. There was even a survey on how often she plays sports and what type of sports injuries she's had. Is that kind of information really necessary to attend university these days?

Universities are institutions of higher learning. They are also very involved in research of all kinds. Freshman entering a university represent a unique group of potential research subjects. Data is often collected as part of the matriculation process. A survey of the type you describe was probably requested on a voluntary basis. In other words, students were invited to participate but not required to complete the form in order to enroll. Similar research is being done around the world. For example, a group of universities in Japan recently got together and conducted a survey of their incoming freshman. They were trying to find out if there is any link between sports participation and low back pain. And, in fact, they discovered that higher levels of sports play for longer periods of time (grade school through high school) were associated with a greater incidence of low back pain. They also showed that students involved in a high level of sports activities were much more likely to have back pain compared with those who either didn't participate at all or students with low sports involvement. Reasons for this type of research may vary from university to university. In some cases it's to help prevent injuries or low back pain. In other situations, it may be to help encourage activity to offset the long hours of sitting, studying, and watching television. You can certainly contact the school and ask for more information about this particular questionnaire. There may have even been a cover sheet explaining the purpose of the survey and notifying students that filling it out was voluntary and not mandatory.

« Back