Task
To develop the ideas of data and information, in the context of sport.
Exercise
We are going to do a data experiment. For it to work properly, you will need to:
- read the instructions carefully!
- get a partner.
In the experiment, you will throw a basketball from the free-throw line a total of 50 times. However, these will be broken up into five sets of 10.
You must not practise with the basketball before your first set of 10 throws!
What to do:
- You throw the basketball 10 times, while your partner records a score "S" or a miss "M".
- You record for your partner while they throw the basketball 10 times.
- You and your partner go to the other end of the basketball court and practise while other pairs have their turn.
- Repeat four more times.
Record your results in a table like this:
| Round 1 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 2 | ||||||||||
| Round 3 | ||||||||||
| Round 4 | ||||||||||
| Round 5 |
Questions
(a) Using the data exactly as it is written, did your rate of scoring improve?
(b) Is it easy to determine, using the data exactly as it is written, to determine if you improved?
(c) Summarise your results by counting how many scores you made in each set of 10. Write the totals in a table like this:
| Round 1 | |
|---|---|
| Round 2 | |
| Round 3 | |
| Round 4 | |
| Round 5 |
(d) Is it easier to determine, using the summarised data, to determine if you improved?
Data vs Information
"Data" and "information" are not the same. Data involves raw facts or figures, which by itself might not make any sense or have any meaning. Information is data that has been "processed", so that it makes sense in some way, or has a meaning. This is a very important point, because a lot of sports articles in newspapers claim to give "data", whereas they have really given summaries of data (and often very selective bits!).
A statistic is a specific kind of "summary" that can be done on data. We will look at several types of statistics later.
Questions
There are two footballers, Jack and Terry, who play for the Buninyong Bullants. Last Saturday, Jack kicked five goals and Terry kicked three goals.
(a) Who had the better game?
(b) Who had the better game if Terry had six scoring chances, but Jack had ten?
(c) What if Jack was on for the whole game, but Terry was only on for a quarter (to let a new guy Matt have a go)?
Data That Misleads
Hopefully the questions above show that data can sometimes give a false impression. Newspapers are particularly good at giving the data they want us to know, without sharing the "full story". Here is another example.
A sports league wanted to make an amendment to the league constitution. To do so, it needed individual club committees to approve of the change. Here are newspaper headlines from two different newspapers about this issue.
|
Vikings Committee 60% In Favour The Vikings committee last night made a historic vote that will help move the Club, and indeed the League, into the future. Club President… |
||
|
Only 3 In Favour On Casterton Committee As a demonstration of the lack of harmony within the Casterton Sports Club, only three of the club's committee members voted in favour of… |
Would it surprise you to know both headlines are about the same club? The Casterton Vikings only have five people on their committee - three out of five is 60%. However, each newspaper put its own "spin" on the data… for their own purposes!
Exercise
Read newspapers at home or in the Library, and try to find sports articles (or even non-sports articles) where the newspaper:
- may use data, but not have told "the full story";
- may be using data to mislead; or
- may be using data to put a "spin" on a story.
