The Use of Data and the Obstacles to Overcome Them
The data that I find myself wanting to understand and seek out is that of sports analytics. The vast areas in which you can dive into and use data tools in order to find meaning behind the numbers is staggering. Throughout the article you are going to see two main topics being covered.
1. What data is necessary to collect?
2. How to avoid obstacles when collecting this data
“When we have all data online, it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many problems that humankind faces. - Robert Cailliau
What Data is Necessary to Collect?
We must be sure what data tools we are going to be using in order to collect the right type of information to make further suggestions. I have collected various forms of sports analytics data for my website, and the most frequent methods that I have used are surveys, interviews, focus groups, and participant observations.
You need to collect data that at will tell you if your funding stream or project is working the way you want it to. You must think of the evaluation process, therefore, informing how things are going and what could be improved and impact evaluation (show the outcomes are being attained).
Now, once you have figured out those first two steps, you must look at the data you collected for the impact evaluation and how it links to outcome indicators. The best way to get data is to look and compare different kinds of information from a range of sources.
Obstacles and Data Collection
The most obvious obstacles when it comes to sports data collection is finding the right people for your surveys or focus groups. You want to target people that are going to be able to help you identify pain points and not create even more problems. That is why you have to trim the herd, before embarking in anything.
I have tackled these obstacles by sending an initial survey to see who I can focus on for my focus group and then sending out a second (more detailed) survey to get more in-depth and better quality answers. Also adding a mixture of quantitative and qualitative information can really help you understand the main problems.
Looking Ahead
The key when collecting data is finding the right people to get the information from and what type of data you need to collect and eventually what you will need to do with it.
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