The relevance of the peak experience to continued skydiving participation: a qualitative approach to assessing motivations.

A qualitative paradigm was used to determine the relevance of the peak experience as a factor of continued involvement in skydiving participation. Data sets from the literature, an interview process, and personal documents were collected, coded, analysed and interpreted for the purpose of understanding the nature of the skydiving experience. The research, which indicated the frequency and significance of a ‘peak experience’ to skydivers, provided an insight into the nature of the skydiving experience and the significance and importance of the experiential component for continued participation. The three sources of data relating to the skydiving experience provided a similarity across all respondents to such a degree that it was possible to conclude that a ‘peak experience’ was a common experience among veteran skydivers. So rewarding was the peak that it represented the most important factor explaining why veteran skydivers continued to jump.