Roibal, Daniel. Does playing Division III basketball help or hurt the overall GPA of students athletes?. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-1sej-rv56
DescriptionThis paper examines whether playing sports at a Division III college or university appears to help or hurt the student-athlete's academic performance. To gather information about this question I surveyed Division III college athletes around the Rutgers-Newark campus as well as six other Division III institutions. In this paper, I will present and review the data I found by my own study and relate them to other studies that I found throughout this process. The specific purpose of my study is to determine whether, and if so to what extent, playing a Division III sport has any impact on the overall grade point average (GPA) of the student athletes I surveyed, and in what direction it affects them. The information I sought from them during the survey is their overall GPA, whether they participate in any extracurricular activities, and if so, which ones, how many, and how many hours a week are spent on those activities. I then compare the GPA information I have gathered from my surveyed athletes to the performance of non-sports playing division III students. I will also consider possible confounding factors and limitations associated with my project.
Moving on, I also want to see the significant impact this study has on both sides of the argument. I believe this study will not only help me understand student-athletes more but also figure out if the sport that I coach at the Division III level, basketball, is hurting them in the classroom. I want to figure out whether or not we need to spend less time at practice and more time in the study hall. My hypothesis about this study, to start, is that sports help students succeed in the classroom because it provides the discipline to get through school successfully for student-athletes who might not be otherwise motivated to make the sacrifices necessary to complete their schoolwork at the highest grade-attaining level possible. I personally experienced this during my stint as a Division III student athlete, and I am curious to determine whether or not the experience I had is representative of other Division III student-athletes around the United States.