unit 5 research project worthing college sports science luke howard 2015

Unit 5 Research Project

Worthing College Sports ScienceLuke Howard

2015

Assessment Criteria Pages 3-17 & 27-38

• P2: carry out sport science or exercise science-based research

• P3: collect and record data from the research project conducted

• M2: correctly analyse collected data, describing techniques used

• D1: correctly analyse data, explaining techniques used

• P4: produce a full research report using a standard scientific structure

Determine whether a relationship exists between the height of a Premier League goalkeeper and

their save percentage during the 2013/14 season

P2: Carry out / P4: Produce

AbstractI have researched and conducted this project to see whether a relationship exists between goalkeeper height in the Premier league, including only goalkeepers to have played in 10 or more games. I looked to see if a correlation between the variables existed and if so how strong. This was an interesting thing to look into as there is certainly the conception that to be a good goalkeeper you have to be very tall and so this research could have serious and far reaching effects in regards to the way goalkeepers of different sizes are viewed and could impact on the goalkeepers who make it to the elite level in the future in regards to the talent ID process. Using spearman's rank I found a weak correlation of 0.39. this shows weak support for me hypothesis that taller goalkeepers will have higher save percentages. These results didn’t have a large enough scope or look at enough variables for them to be conclusive however they do offer a good starting point for further research to be done in the area to get stronger results and a better idea on the subject. My results at the moment wont impact how goalkeepers are viewed or which goalkeepers and brought or employed simply on there height although it could have implications on this in the future if more research is done to build on this, at this moment in time thought the emphasis is still simply on the talent and ability of the goalkeepers.


Contents: GeneralPage 1- TitlePage 2- Assessment criteriaPage 3- Aim title pagePage 4- Abstract- Contents: GeneralPage 6- Contents: AppendicesPage 7- Contents: Figures and tablesPage 8- AcknowledgementsPage 9- IntroductionPage 10- Literature review and referencesPage 11- Project hypothesisPage 12- MethodPage 13- Data CollectionPage 14- Data AnalysisPage 15- ResultsPage 16- DiscussionPage 17- ConclusionsPage 18- Assessment criteriaPage 19- Review 1/3Page 20- Review 2/3Page 21- Review 3/3Page 22- Future recommendations 1/5Page 23- Future recommendations 2/5Page 24- Future recommendations 3/5Page 25- Future recommendations 4/5Page 26- Future recommendations 5/5


Contents: Appendices

In this section you need to write a page by page contents page (correctly numbered for pages 27-32)Page 27- Appendices title pagePage 28- Sky sports player profile (Wojech Szczesny)


Contents: Figures and Tables

Page 33- Height and save percentage scatter graphPage 34- Table showing goalkeeper name, height and save percentagePage 35- Height rank and save percentage rank scatter graphPage 36- spearman rank table and calculations


Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the consistent help given to me by Paul Cox. Also Oscar Gamble for helping me use excel, and Kristian Simmons for giving advice throughout the project.


Introduction

The aim of this project was to see whether a relationship exists between the height of a Premier league goalkeeper and their save percentage over a full season . I chose this aim because it relevant to the talent identification aspect of football as there is often the conception that goalkeepers have to be tall to be successful, and so my findings will have real importance and meaning. The initial aim for the project was created 6 weeks ago, since then time has been spent working on the project by completing the research, then collecting and analysing the data. The final few weeks of this project will be spent writing up the results and completing the review and evaluation.


Literature Review and Referenceshttps://worthingsportscience.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/unit-5-literature-review-luke-howard/


https://worthingsportscience.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/unit-5-literature-review-luke-howard/

https://worthingsportscience.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/unit-5-literature-review-luke-howard/

Project Hypothesis

‘The taller the Premier league goalkeeper, the higher their save percentage will be’‘No correlation will be found between the height of Premier league goalkeepers and there save percentage over a full season’


MethodFirstly I collected all the data I needed, height, save percentage and amount of games played, from various online sources, I used reliable sources such as Squawka and sky sports. I firstly had to find out which goalkeeper had played in 10 or more games in the 2013/14 season. I then found out there height (see appendix 1). I calculated there save percentage by dividing there amount of shots saved by the amount of on target shots they faced. I calculated there save percentages starting in alphabetical order of the teams they play for, so I started with Wojach Sczency who plays for Arsenal and worked my way through the league. After I found the information online I inputted it into a table I had created on Microsoft excel (see figures and tables 2). I then used the information in this table and inputted it into another table, one which allowed me to rank the data and also calculated the spearman coefficient rank of my results.Using excel I then calculated the average save percentage and average height, I then created two scatter graphs, one displaying height and average save percentage and the other displaying the relationship between the height rank and save percentage rank.

P3: Collect and record / M2: Correctly analyse & describe techniques / D1: Correctly analyse & explain techniques

Data Collection

My research was all desk based as I used secondary data and information I found from sources online. All of my data is quantitative.The benefit of desk research as oppose to field research is that its more time efficient as I don’t have to actually go and conduct tests to gain results, I can just access them online, although some of the data was harder to find and so took a little longer. An issue with collecting all my data online is that you cant be 100% sure if all he results are accurate and reliable, that’s why I checked the data across multiple websites and sources to make sure they are all correct and match each other to prove reliability. All of my data is quantitative. My research and data collection didn’t breach any of the ethical or legal rules set by BASES, as I followed all the guidelines set like making sure I comply with the data protection act.


Data Analysis

The measure of central tendency I used to calculate each goalkeepers save percentage was the mean, this was the most appropriate measure to use as it takes into account all the data and this creates an average that truly reflects there whole season. Once I had collected all the data I inputted the data into a table (see figures and tables 2) and created an ordinal ranking of my results. From there I displayed the results in a scatter graph (see figures and tables 1), this is the best way to see whether there is any correlation to my results. I drew in the line of best fit to see how strong the correlation was for each goalkeeper.


ResultsThe results showed that there was a very weak correlation between BPL goalkeeper height and their save percentage over the season. This gives weak support to my first hypothesis that taller goalkeepers will have better save percentages. The scatter graph (see figures and tables 1) shows that the goalkeeper with the worse save percentage is below the average height, likewise the goalkeeper with the best save percentage is also below the average height and this supports that height doesn’t appear to be a major factor in the save percentage of a goalkeeper. These results support my null hypothesis that no correlation would be found. I found that the average height of the Premier league goalkeeper is 191 cm and the average save percentage is 68.74%. I found an outlier in my results, he was only one goalkeeper with a save percentage under 60%. The results show a weak correlation which shows that there is something there however its far to small to make any categorical conclusions that height has an affect on save percentage, this means however that if further research could build on what I looked at on a much larger scale and looking at different possible factors then its likely that they will obtain strong correlations and significant results.


DiscussionI found that there was a weak a correlation between BPL goalkeeper height and their save percentage over a full season. I didn’t expect to find a strong positive correlation however I did expect to find a correlation, regardless of the strength of it, due to the taller goalkeepers seemingly being favoured over the smaller goalkeepers to play, and so to find a correlation was expected somewhat. I knew that there are many factors affecting a goalkeepers performance and consequent save percentage, the main one being talent, and so I wasn’t expecting to find a very strong correlation, however I was surprised at the weakness of the correlation because I have always thought of height to be extremely important factor the goalkeepers and so I thought there be a stronger relationship. There wasn’t many trends in my results due to there being very weak correlation and trend in my results. For example the goalkeeper with the lowest save percentage and the goalkeeper with the highest save percentage were both below the average height, this shows the lack of trend in my data. I was surprised to see that the average height of the BPL goalkeeper was 191 cm, this is a lot taller than I expected and shows just how more favoured the taller goalkeepers are for Premier league clubs. It also shows that when talking about a goalkeeper as being ‘small’ he is still tall, a lot taller than the average man and so describing a goalkeeper as small can be misleading.


Conclusion

‘Determine whether a relationship exists between the height of a Premier League goalkeeper and their save percentage during the 2013/14 season’A major trend I found from my literacy review from several studies like Reyes, et al and Gonçalves, CE, et al found that in youth football the smaller or late maturing boys or under represented as age groups progress or drop out playing all together, this suggests that football may systemically exclude the smaller players, especially defenders and goalkeepers at an early age, this means that its only the taller players and more skeletal mature players left by the time the players to get an older age or to an elite level, this is mirrored in my research as I found the average height of Premier League goalkeepers to be 191cm, which is 15.7cm taller than the average man (175.3) in the UK. Another trend from my literacy review came from the research of Oberstone J, 2010 and G, Gary 2014, both there research highlighted that there is different ways to measure a goalkeepers ability and so by solely using save percentage as a mean to estimate their ability may not be truly representative of their whole ability. My results give very weak support to my hypothesis that the taller the goalkeeper the higher the save percentage will be, this suggests that there is a small link and so can provider a basis for further research to be done into this area looking at far more factors and variables to try and establish a stronger correlation and results that could have positive implications for many things like talent ID in football. I think the reason I found such a weak correlation coefficient was because firstly I was looking at to small a scope, and secondly I was only looking at one variable in the goalkeepers performance the save percentage, and so if the study was to be done looking into a larger sample and more variables like catching success and distribution then I would have got better, stronger results, with far reaching implications and effects for the future in the areas like talent ID.


Assessment Criteria Pages 19-26

• P5: carry out a review of the research project conducted, describing strengths, areas for improvement and future recommendations.

• M3: carry out a review of the research project, explaining strengths, areas for improvement and future recommendations.

• D2: carry out a review of the research project, justifying future recommendations for further research.

Review (1/3)

The conclusions of the project that there is a weak correlation (see figures and tables 1) does meet my project aim as it shows that a relationship does exist between height and goalkeeper save percentage however it’s a very weak correlation and so although it did meet my aim it could have been a lot stronger. I believe that I produced valid and reliable results and so that is good for my project.

P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify

Review (2/3)

I believe that a strength of my research project was that my aim was investigating football and more specifically the premier league, this is the area and sport I enjoy and so have more enthusiasm and passion for investigating it, I also had previous knowledge in the area which gave me an advantage when doing the research. Another strength of my project was the data analysis, this was a strength because I was able to present and display my results and data in a professional way which makes it easy to view and interpret results, more specifically the use excel was a big strength as it allowed me to calculate the Spearman rank correlation (see figures and tables 3) and then display the data in graphs (see figures and tables 1 and 3). This makes the results far easier to see and interpret there meaning and also looks far more sophisticated and professional when it comes to presenting the data.


Review (3/3)

I think that the scope of my project was very limited and restricted. I only looked at a very small elite group for 1 season and so my results are not very representative do a wider population across varying playing levels and countries and leagues. Had I looked at a wider scope I could have included various leagues from different levels across Europe, this would have made my results my representative and also having more data would have meant more meaningful results and increased the chance of seeing a stronger correlation, weak or positive, and trends in the data. Also increasing the time period of the research would have meant I got have found and discounted more outliers and so I would have found more consistent results.


Future Recommendations (1/5)If the project was to be completed again what would you change and why? (include evidence and specific examples)If I was to complete the project again I would change it by looking at more aspects of the goalkeepers game like catch success, claiming crosses, successful punches etc. I would do this because after looking at previous research from Oberstone J, 2010 and other sources in this area its apparent that there is much more to a goalkeepers game then just save percentage and so by measuring more variables I would get more representative results and data about the goalkeepers ability, it would also increase the chances of seeing a trend in the results if your looking at more variables. It would give me far more data to look at and analyse and this would increase the chance of getting significant findings. I would also look at more leagues than just the Premier League, I would take a sample of at least 3 different leagues in 3 different countries, looking at lower leagues as well as the top leagues, so for instance take a sample of the football league 2, the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie B, this would give you results and data that is representative of different countries and so eliminates any cultural bias from the results and also looks at different levels so its more representative for a larger amount of people across different levels. I would also have liked to have looked at a larger period of time to research, so over 3 seasons for example instead of just 1 as I think more seasons will give you a more accurate and true measure as oppose to just 1 season where the goalkeeper might play unusually bad or good and so doesn’t give a fair representation of there ability.

P4: Produce / P5: Describe / M3: Explain / D2: Justify

Future Recommendations (2/5)

The benefits that would come from the proposed changes would be mainly that the results would be more representative to a larger population, this would mean the results would have more widespread importance and could be used by many people for important jobs like talent identification of youth players if my results showed a clear correlation between height and improved positive aspects of a goalkeepers performance like punching % and catching success. Looking at the data from a larger period of time will increase the scope of the data and will lessen the chances of outliers and extreme results because over the 3 seasons there perormances and save percentage should even out and be more consistent as oppose to possibly having one good or bad season and so not given results that truly represent there ability.



To determine whether a relationship exists between the height of football goalkeepers in 3 major European leagues and there save percentage, breaking down into categories like ‘expected to save’, 1v1 saves ‘long range saves’ etc, in the 2013-14 season.



‘To determine whether a relationship exists between the age of goalkeepers playing in La liga, Serie A and German Bundesliga and their save percentage over a period of 3 full seasons’



To see what factors (age, weight and height) have the biggest affect on football league(championship, league 1 and 2) goalkeepers performance, looking at save percentage, punches, catching percentage, save percentage and distribution over a full season.


Research Project Appendices

Appendix 1

Research Project Figures and Tables

Figures and Tables 1

unit 5 research project worthing college sports science luke howard 2015

Documents

page contents page

results page

appendices title page

percentage page

appendices page

general page

tables page

abstract page