Sports and Physical Activity

FSD holdings contain a number of data series and individual datasets suitable for research on sports and physical activity.

There are also many datasets that contain individual questions and variables which are potentially useful to researchers of the subject. The data archived at the FSD can be downloaded free of charge from Aila Data Service, according to the conditions set for each dataset.

Please note that below is listed only a sample of all data available at the Data Archive and we encourage you to use keyword search more datasets on the subject on Aila. In addition, datasets suitable for research on the theme may be found from other European data archives by using CESSDA Data Catalogue (Opens in new tab).

Questions and variables of quantitative datasets that have been fielded in English or translated at the FSD can be explored by browsing through Aila variable search. If a quantitative dataset has not yet been translated, you can request a translation free of charge. Qualitative data are only available in their original language. Where applicable, all related materials are freely accessible on the study description page of each dataset.

Recent Data Releases

Quantitative study
Qualitative study

Datasets on the theme

FSD3616 University Student Health and Well-being Survey 2021
This national survey examined the health and health-related behaviour of university and university of applied sciences (polytechnic) students in Finland. Questions covered, among other topics, physical, mental and dental health, health-related behaviour, use of health services, and satisfaction with health services. Factors related to the ability to study and well-being, such as social relationships and income, were also examined. The survey also included questions on the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing at the time.

FSD3535 Children and Youth Leisure Survey: 10-29-Year-Olds 2018
The survey studied the leisure time activities and physical activity of Finnish children and young people aged 10-29. Both everyday physical activities and organised sport were included. Two questionnaires were used, one for participants aged 10-14 and the other for participants aged 15-29. The parents of the children aged 10-14 participated in the interviews and some questions were asked from them instead of the children.

FSD3445 Intervention Study on Increasing Physical Activity and Reducing Sedentary Behaviour of Vocational Students: Student Surveys, Body Composition Measurements and Accelerometer Data 2015-2017
The intervention study investigated the effectiveness of the 'Let's Move It' programme aiming to increase physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behaviour (SB) among students in vocational schools. It was conducted as a cluster-randomised parallel group trial. Main themes in the surveys were the students' PA habits and motivation, SB habits, well-being, health behaviour, health status, and personality.

FSD3510 Physical Training of eSports Players 2015-2016
The survey charted the physical training and gaming activities of professional and aspiring competitive eSports players in Finland. The original study was conducted internationally, so the data and questionnaire are only available in English.

Data series

Data in these series also include questions on the theme.

Datasets elsewhere

People interested in finding data on sports and physical activity should also take a look at data available at other data archives around the world.

In Finland, the Language Bank of Finland (Opens in new tab) also provides services to researchers and archives audio and video material. Research data produced in Finland may also be searched via the Fairdata.fi Etsin (Opens in new tab) . Services of various European social science data archives can be accessed through the website of CESSDA (Opens in new tab) . The UK Data Service (Opens in new tab) has, among other things, a wide variety of excellent qualitative data. Another good source of data is the German GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Opens in new tab) . The extensive holdings of the American ICPSR (Opens in new tab) are also well worth searching.