Advanced Analytics: Session 2.1 Data Presentation and Visualisation
Sports Economics and Analytics:
Assessment Details
Professor Ian McHale
100% of module
Deadline = Friday 19th March 12 noon
Maximum length is 2,500 words
Discuss one of the following:
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1. Competitive Balance
Competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome are considered central ideas of sports economics. Discuss measures of competitive balance and use one of these measures to analyse the level of, and changes to, competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome in a sports league or leagues of your choice.
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2. Sports Analytics
Discuss the contribution sports analytics has made to an issue in sports and/or sports business. You may choose from any sport, or several sports. You ay provide a historical overview of the sports analytics landscape detailing key moments and dates in the evolution of sports analytics. Use examples where applicable. You may also comment on where, how and why you think analytics may be used in the future.
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3. Integrity in sport
Consider the problem of integrity in sport. How are economic ideas and analytics used to identify, and reduce, match fixing in sport? Your essay might include a description of a forecasting model in a sport of your choice. Please consider issues such as: betting market efficiency; characteristics of sports, or individuals within a sport, more at risk of match fixing and corruption; examples of economics and analytics being used in real sports in the fight against match fixing.
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4. Rating in sports
Rating competitors (teams and players) in sport is a key idea in sports analytics. Discuss why rating is important, its uses, and any advantages over other competitors that can be gained. Describe a ratings model of your choice, for players, or teams, in any sport you wish. You should critique the ratings model, identifying any strengths and weaknesses.
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Style
Your report should be written in the style of a report for a consultancy.
Typically, this would include sections such as:
Background of the problem (including a motivation for writing on this topic),
Past Work (also known as a literature review),
Methods (presenting any technical know-how used to address the problem)
Results and Conclusions (including how the solution may be improved, how the issue might manifest itself in other sports/industries, and what general lessons can be learned from the report).
You must use citations and referencing.
There are many sources of information – be adventurous.
Google scholar, the library search system, Wikipedia, blogs, etc.
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Some tips
Do:
Spellcheck (the red wavey lines mean something)
Grammar check (the blue wavey lines mean something!)
Presentation matters: numbered pages, numbered sections (clearly indicated), figures and tables sequentially numbered with captions explaining what is in the table or figure.
Consider the structure before you write: does is make sense to the reader? Is this the best way to get your point across?
Critique the literature (what is good and what is bad?)
Consider your objectives
Don’t:
Waffle – padding out a report is such an obvious trick. 2,500 is a maximum word count, each word, sentence and paragraph should be carefully chosen.
Use unrelated references to make it look like you have read lots.
Print pages and pages of data in an appendix. Offer an email address if the reader would like to obtain a copy of any data.
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