The life of any human being is comprised of work and leisure. Work includes any obligatory activities that one takes part in at any particular time. Leisure refers to the discretionary time when one is free from obligations. The quality of experience in work and leisure is a factor that determines how rewarding work or leisure is in a person’s life. The study of quality of experience is an important study topic as it helps determine what factors influence this quality. Every human being is looking to get the best experience from work or leisure; hence the important question of what influences the quality of experience. In the study of Optimal Experience in Work and Leisure, Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre, work towards determining influence of work or leisure and when a person was in a state of high challenges and skills (flow) on the quality of experience.
Hypotheses
The authors of the study assumed that there is a difference in reported experience during work and that reported during leisure. The authors also assumed that these differences vary with the occupational level of the subject. The other hypothesis was that optimal experiences are more likely in work than in leisure activities (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989) . Based on these hypotheses, the goal of the study was to:
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Determine the difference in experience during work and during free time
Determine the event when optimal experiences are more likely – during work or in leisure
Determine whether occupational level affects the difference in experience during work and leisure.
Procedure
The study population was workers from five large Chicago companies totaling to 1,026 workers. However, the respondents of the study were 44% of the total population. The sample included 75 % of skilled workers and 12% of unskilled workers. For the study, 139 representatives were selected using the Experience sampling method (ESM) but only 107 did the study. The sample included workers in management, engineering, clerical, and blue-collar jobs. The demographics of the sample included single, married, separated, or divorced persons. It also had a representation of people from the age of 19 years to 63 years; a mean age of 36.5 years. Most of the respondents were white with 37% being male and 63% female (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989) .
The study applied ESM to examine the quality of experience each day. The authors obtained individual reports on daily experience from each respondent for a week. The reports were generated from electronic paging devices that recognized daily signals of each respondent. These signals were randomly sent within intervals of 2 hours from 7:30 am to 10:30 am totaling 56 signals during the week. The study was, therefore, based on an average of 44 signals per person and a sum of 4,791 responses. Respondents filled out reports, experience sampling forms (ESF), when a signal occurred. The form contained questions on challenges and skills to measure flow, questions on experience, and the activity during the signal.
The experiments of the study were to determine the challenges and skills of the respondent at the time of the signal on the basis of flow, anxiety, boredom, and apathy. Quality of experience, as a study variable, was measured on the basis of twelve items. Current activity during activity was determined from responses to tasks based on coded activity categories (1-154 coded categories).
Results
The study results showed that respondents spent 30% of the day working and 20% of the day in leisure activities. The flow activities occurred more in work (54%) than in leisure (17%). Flow-like events occurred more during work than during leisure time. The quality of experience was mostly the same in flow and nonflow events of work and leisure. The quality of experience was influenced more by situations of flow than those of nonflow despite whether the respondent was working or free (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989) .
Flow had more influence in the quality of experience than activity. Challenges and skills greatly affect the quality of experience than the activity does. However, leisure responses were higher when respondents were motivated than work responses. Flow in work was more motivated than nonflow in all occupations.
Discussion
According to the study, people derive more positive experiences from work than from leisure events. The quality of experience in work or leisure is highly dependent on whether the activity is a flow or nonflow. Situations of flow bring about highly positive experiences despite whether the person is at work or leisure. Nonflow conditions bring about negative experiences in work and leisure (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989) .
Contrary to expectations, most people derive flow experiences from work and not leisure despite their occupation group and level. Most people derive flow in leisure activities of driving because driving is a challenging situation that requires the use of skills. Conversations with family and friends also derive flow during leisure. People need to improve their leisure time by including more conscious and active leisure activities that can derive flow. They also need to realize the excitement they find in their work so that they can disregard the cultural norm against enjoying work and finding satisfaction (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989) . These two interventions will improve the quality of experience both at work and during leisure.
Personal Response
This study provides great insights on work and leisure experiences. I have always perceived most leisure activities like watching TV to be very fulfilling. I did analyze the experience of work and leisure based on flow – challenges and skills. It is so true that people gain more fulfillment from flow tasks than nonflow. At the time one is doing a nonflow activity, it feels good, but one feels bad, especially if there was a need for a flow activity like work to be done. The cultural view against work is a blinding view of how much work brings fulfillment to our lives. This study explains why people are happy in jobs where they derive flow and unhappy in nonflow jobs.
Reference
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & LeFevre, J. (1989). Optimal Experience in Work and Leisure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56 (5), 815-822.
