Michael's NRL Page - Study Design

STUDY DESIGN (METHOD)

Data Collection Method

I chose the Internet as my principal method of investigation and placed the survey on the Internet for those interested to fill out. The Internet is preferable to other methods of data collection as it is an efficient way of retrieving responses if dealt with the right way, meaning the survey must not be too long or be irrelevant to those filling it out. While I received most of the surveys at my Hotmail address without prior consultation, I did conduct a few surveys at school with friends who then filled it out via my web page.

Because collecting data from the Internet has the potential to introduce bias via a younger more technology literate audience, I also used two other methods. In order to get a broader set of views, I collected newspaper articles, and magazine clippings from Rugby League Week and Big League. These were relevant to both traditional viewpoints and those who support the game going national. This analysis also allowed me to sample the views of the journalists who in many cases are older, reflect the views of their readers and also obviously influence readers’ opinions.

I wrote letters to six Sydney clubs requesting their views on several topics including their thoughts on a National Competition and traditional clubs being merged to make way for expansion clubs. I asked them what they thought about the possibility of their club having to merge for the sake of an expansion club e.g.: Adelaide.

How and when data was collected

In March I wrote up the NRL survey along with trying to finalise the wording of the hypothesis. Before the end of the month I had a draft version already completed ready to set up on the Internet. When I first had the survey up and running it was very hard to get responses as it was only reachable via my website address (http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/wagner/159/survey.html.) Then on the 9th April I e-mailed the owner of an NRL page, Glen and asked him if he wouldn’t mind creating a link to my page on his page. This was vital for my results as I would not have retrieved so many responses if it hadn’t been for Glen’s NRL page advertising my survey. In its first month the survey received 55 responses which is very impressive. I hadn’t expected so many.

Throughout March till July I collected many related newspaper and magazine clippings and kept them stored in a folder and some of them will be included in my project.

Data collection relationship to aims

The questions asked in the survey were all aiming to prove an aspect of the hypothesis. The data collection method reasons have already been mentioned for non-Internet methods. The survey could be split up into nine sections.

Section	Question	Purpose of asking
Your Statistics	Age	To draw comparisons between the various age groups e.g. would long time supporters choose to still follow the game if their club were merged?
	Place of Residence	To see how respondents from the traditional base (Sydney) compared to those from other Rugby League centres. Perhaps Sydney supporters might be more loyal.
Favourites	Favourite winter sport	What other winter sport may an NRL fan convert to e.g. AFL, if their team was no longer a single entity.
	Time followed	The length of time for which a supporter has been following the game may be significant in determining whether or not they would still follow the game if their team were cut.
	Favourite Team	It is important to be able to draw comparisons between Sydney and non-Sydney club supporters in the results. Someone who selected e.g. ‘my family does’ may be more likely to lose interest in the game than a fan with a stronger reason.
Games	How often do you go to games?	I predicted that a fan who rarely attended games would be more likely to lose interest in the game than those who went every weekend would. It is of particular interest considering the decline in crowd numbers over the past few years.
	Which game would you prefer to see?	To compare the popularity of a "Superleague style match" (which is the type of game a 14 team competition would have more often) to a traditional confrontation.
	Would you bother go to a game if you could watch it on Pay T.V.?	Crowds have dropped slightly due to many fans being able to watch their team on Pay T.V. regularly. Possibly those fans who would go to the games are more fanatical therefore would be more upset if their team did not survive.
Rugby League on T.V.	Amount of Rugby League watched on Pay T.V. and Free to Air	How much interest do NRL supporters have in all Rugby League games? I predicted that a supporter who watches every game would be more likely to still follow the game, as they would have interest in more than one team, than someone who watches their favourite team and some other teams.
	Do you have Foxtel or Optus Vision?	I believe that due to Pay TV’s considerable recent impact on the game that most supporters with it would maintain their interest, even more so if they’re main reason for getting Pay TV was to watch NRL.
Amalgamations and Mergers	Ideal 14 team competition and basis for inclusion	To compare the responses of traditional fans to supporters of expansion while letting them release their emotions about this very sensitive subject.
	Would you still follow the game?	If the majority of traditional fans said yes then this would go a long way towards proving the hypothesis.
Super League	Where do you stand?	I predicted that many who are against a "superleague" would also be against rationalisation, and would lose interest if the game became too commercial. I predicted that those whose interest deteriorated in 1997 would be unlikely to still follow the game if it keeps displeasing them.
Magazines/ Newspaper	Where do you get your RL news?	I predicted that a fan who receives his/her NRL news from various sources might be a stronger overall supporter of the game.
	Do you buy a RL magazine? If so, how often?	A fan who buys an NRL magazine on a regular/irregular basis would be a stronger supporter of the game than a fan who does not buy one.
Have you played?		This might cause some respondents to be more loyal to the game.
	Effect on loyalty to game	No doubt that a positive response to this answer would ensure me that the participant would still follow game.

All the surveys were included in a word document by the name of Hotmail.doc. Then by June the data was being processed into spreadsheets in order to achieve my findings in the form of tables, pie charts and bar graphs.

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