Latest research asks: Who are active divers?

[Peter Buzzacott]

Recreational scuba divers are not that well described. The challenge researchers face is finding a representative sample. For example, if we conduct a survey of ScubaBoard members then that might be biased towards one segment of our community, but ignore others. Same if we survey dive club members, or insured divers, or newly certified divers... Over the years, if you take all these types of studies into account, we might generally paint a picture of who we are. But, to obtain a proper snapshot we would need to randomly sample people and ask "Are you a diver?". To do this in a small village might be affordable, but to get a nationally representative sample would cost millions of dollars. And,... that is just what the CDC have done.

The CDC coordinate a year-round random telephone-based survey in every US state and, in three of the last six years, in addition to the nearly 300 questions they've asked about people's lives, they have also asked if people were active in the previous month. If so, were they most active at scuba diving? So, for what may be the first large scale random sample survey of active US scuba divers, anyone interested can download the short, two-page paper here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047487318790290

I don't know about the rest of you, but I see more than a passing resemblance to me in these results.

 

[cneal]

Of course, this would bee weighted to those that repond to telephone surveys. I wouldn't answer 3 persomnal questions, much less 300.

 

[northernone]

Of course, this would bee weighted to those that repond to telephone surveys. I wouldn't answer 3 persomnal questions, much less 300.

My thought exactly. Good luck finding many active divers who will sit around a home phone to answer 300 questions.

Cameron

 

[boulderjohn]

I also find that your definition of active diver (dived within the last month) to be quite restrictive.

When I learned to dive, I became instantly hooked. For the first 5 years I dived every chance I got, usually on a couple of vacation trips a year. I racked up a decent number of dives each year, but depending upon when you asked me, the odds were a good 5-1 that you would not consider me to be an active diver.

Then I became an instructor, but I still did very little real diving during the winter. I was in the pool teaching classes regularly, but I was not doing many open water dives for a long stretch of months. Thus, you might have characterized me as an active dive instructor but not an active diver.

According to DEMA statistics, Colorado annually has among the top 3 numbers of divers in the United States, but we have no local diving that most people would even consider trying. That means that almost none of the avid divers in this state (and there are enough avid divers to support a plethora of dedicated dive shops) would meet your active diver definition most of the year.

I imagine the same would hold true of divers throughout much of the country, especially in cold weather climates where no one dives for many months. Heck, I spent a week in March on the Alabama gulf shore a couple of years ago, and I was not able to get in a single day of diving. One shop that did diving as well as other activities seemed to think I was out of my mind for asking--it was too cold for diving then. Wait until the water gets warm.

 

[Diver0001]

The CDC coordinate a year-round random telephone-based survey in every US state and, in three of the last six years, in addition to the nearly 300 questions they've asked about people's lives, .

I haven't spent more than 30 seconds answering questions from strangers on the telephone in decades. As soon as I realize it's telemarketers or any kind of thing that isn't informing me that I won a jackpot in a lottery then I stop them right there and tell them that I do not want to be approached by them again.

That said, if the CDC or some similar organisation really wanted to know about my diving in detail they're welcome to make an appointment and I'll answer their 300 questions. My rates are $250 an hour.

R..

 

[TMHeimer]

To answer the researchers' question, I consider myself an active diver. I dive about once weekly except for odd times of year due to weather/climate or travel. I don't know if I'd consider a monthly diver as active or not.
I would dive more than once weekly but there are just so many shore sites close by and I don't want it to get too boring.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I decided to compare "recreational diving" to "recreational drug use." I discovered the following:

• Person can say "No" to diving
• Does not rely on diving to gain personal power
• Diving doesn't interfere with good relationships with family, friends, co-workers and others
• Uses money responsibly to pay expenses rather than buy scuba gear that might not be affordable

That diver is a recreational diver.

• Diver cannot say "No" to diving
• Most relationships are with other divers
• Always thinking about the next dive
• Will buy scuba gear at ALL costs
• Other relationships will go downhill fast
• Uses diving to gain extra confidence or to feel more joyful

That diver is us!

 

[Saniflush]

Stealing this!

 

[divad]

[QUOTE="Trace Malinowski, post: 8390820, member: 36873"That diver is us! [/QUOTE]



What is answering a SB question @ 1:38 AM a symptom of?

 

[seeker242]

One-third of active US scuba divers were aged ≥50 years and/or reported prior high cholesterol, around half were overweight,

Old fat guy, wearing a speedo. Sounds about right.