Part $3.$ Designing a Quantitutive Study

Please read the following seenario:

With the understanding that porks and recreation are powerful catalysts for physical octivity and engagement, NRPA fosters dhange of the local level reducing barriers to health and wellness and decreasing chronic dieease and obesity among youth and odults. Since $2009,$ NRPA has worked with $44$ comenunties across the United States to implement strategles focured on improving access to healthy food, increasing opportunities for physical activity and alternative transportation, and decreasing tobacco consumption.

The commenily of Helena, Montana, has plenty to do$,$ but until recently, the local tronsit infrastructure made getting to traik, pools, and parks difficult. A collaboration between the park and recreation department, public heolth department, public transit, and ather commmily stakeholdens sougld to improve access to the trail sytem and ended up creoling a free trolley system for youth

The original plan was to add new stops to the exirting rostes, but this proved to be fust the beginning. The tronsit diredor was wary of adding stoph, as this changes the timing of the routes, but suggested creating a new, separate route specifically for ativities for youth. A key partner, the execulive director of Youth Conrections, a nonprofit organication committed to creoting safe spaces and partnerships with the youth of Helena, emerged as another leader in this effort. The collaborative learned that accers to the trail system was not obout the trails thernselven, but abost getting to the octivities

In June $2012,$ o trolley system was created that takes youth $($no advils allowed unless they are supervising$)$ to the trails, the pool, the parks, the library, and a host of other activilies$-$for free. The local callaborative hired a chaperone to collect statistics on ridership while creating a culture of safely and respect on board fhe trolley. While the system is new, ridership is increasing and there are already stories of success. The trolley runs five hours per doy and has stops identified bosed on feedback from users and other stakeholdern The trolley rura from mid$-$June to mid$-$August, to coincide with school holidays and the local recreation progrom for youth in the dify. By extending the roule into the counfy, the collaborative was able to recelve funds from the county for its operation. The collaborative views the frolley as a starting point for creating a culture of health for the commuaity. As more people use public transportotion, they begin to care more about the quality and availability of servicen locally, creating momentum for more involvement for improving the infrastructure of the city.

The new parthership with the local transit cuttority created opportunifics for the park and recreation depariment to be irvolved in the long$-$term planning for the future of tranil' in Helena. The members of the collaborative will hare a seat at the table when new plans are drown up for the public transit system in the city and county. This will help ansure that this culture of health$-$ promoting wellners in all areas of planning and enwironmental change keeps poing in Helena.

Asustre that you ore evaluative researchers who are interested in leaming more about the operations behind the free trolley system and its role in increasing opportunities for physical activity among the youth of Helena Keeping this in mind you will design a quantitative research project related to one of these concerns. Indeed, a research profed mest have a narrower scope, as we consol assess everything at once, so please answer the following questions$/$complete the following tasks to develop your research project.

Pleese answer the following questions $(30$ Points$)$:

Come up with a research question that focuses on one of the five pis of evaluation $($i$.$e$,$ personnel, polioies$/$administration$,$ ploces, progrom quality, participant outcomes$).$

Hint: When yos ftairk about your research question, make sure you are setting yourself up to collect quantit ofive data.

Let's say you ore conduding this research in mid$-$Augunt, what timing of evaluation would this best

Let's say you ore conduding this research in mid$-$Augunt, what timing of evaluation would this best