Introduction
In conducting business research for the NFL organization instruments to collect data and conduct interviews will need to be used. The appropriate sampling and research methods will also be discussed for this research process. The NFL organization will see great benefits from conducting this research to reach the right conclusions about the problems they are facing as of late with their players violating the league’s personal conduct and substance abuse policies (“2014 NFL Fines/suspensions Tracker”, 2014).
Their players have also been a part of many domestic violence arrests. (Morris, 2014).
Sampling/Research Methods
For this particular research, this study will require purposive sampling. The participants will have to be chosen arbitrarily for their unique characteristics, experiences, attitudes, or perceptions. Then as conceptual or theoretical categories of participants develop during the interview process, new participants will be sought out to challenge emerging patterns (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
The first two groups will have to be NFL players who have a history of being involved in personal conduct and substance abuse violations, and those who do not. Individual interviews will have to be conducted face to face during the player’s practices or other down time they may have.
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If they choose to participate in the study, individual interviews will allow each player to feel more comfortable sharing truthful information about themselves and their possible involvement in personal conduct and substance abuse violations. The interviews will be semi-structured in nature because semi-structured interviews develop a dialog between interviewer and participant, and use the skill of the interviewer to extract more data and a greater variety of data, and can achieve greater clarity and elaboration of the participant’s answers (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Instruments to Use to Collect Qualitative Information
The instrument that will be used to collect this qualitative information will be survey via personal interview. This is because the depth and detail of information that can be secured is greater. The interviewer has the ability to improve the quality of information collected with this technique over any other methods. This is because the interviewer has the ability to observe the participants and see if they are having a hard time understanding questions and make it so that the participants can relate to them and feel more comfortable overall responding to them considering the nature of the questions that the NFL players will be answering (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Appropriate Sample Method
The appropriate sample method for this research is a probability sampling because personal records of the players are already on file and they can choose narrow down the candidates for the survey to determine the best ones. Although with all the care taken for the survey “some people will refuse to participate” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Due to players refusing to participate “sampling error is likely to rise” and the researchers would take that into account when determining the sample method (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Sampling Frame
The sampling frame that would be used for this research study would be drawn from the roosters of the current players that are currently held by the coaches. To increase the sampling group this would also include previous players that had been involved with the league (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
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The researchers would pull from a “larger population and then use a screening procedure to eliminate those who are not members of the group” that the team wishes to study (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Players have been accused of the infraction in the past or currently have a case pending will not be included in the survey. The players will be assigned numbers and chosen at random to be surveyed.
Appropriate Sampling Size
“How large a sample should be is a function of the variation in the population parameters under study and the estimating precision needed by the researcher” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
Due to the variance that could arise within the population the sample of the research would need to be larger to account for the variance (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
The sampling size will also be large due to the smaller error range needed to determine the punishments for the players that commit break the player code of conduct set by the league. Cost considerations would not affect the size of the sampling because the current and former players will not be compensated for their survey.
Sample Size
The sample size regarding this particular experiment will be determined as followed: the first sample group will be NFL players known for having a history in being involved in personal conduct and substance abuse violations and the second sample group will be NFL players who do not have a history in either of those regards. As of now in the 2014 season, 41 NFL players have been suspended for substance abuse or personal conduct that can be interviewed in the first group and the remaining 1,655 players to choose from in the second group (“2014 NFL Fines/suspensions Tracker”, 2014).
Qualitative Methods Being Used
The qualitative method being used in the experiment is survey by face-to-face interview. The benefit to a face-to-face interview is being able to observe and record nonverbal as well as verbal communication (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).
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It is believed that this method will produce the most honest, truthful data and in a study like this it is important to make your samples feel comfortable in opening up.
Statistical Tests Being Used
A powerful statistical test is recommended for this experiment. The number of players who have been suspended is too low, so it’s important to make sure the sample size will give enough data to make the experiment valid against the interviews done in the second group.
Results and Conclusions
The individuals that are in charge of gathering the data that is needed to create new policies for off-field incidences is going to make sure that they get everything they need to make new policies. They are going to want these new policies to stay intact and not change every year. From the results, the NFL should be able to answer the original research question, “What should the off-field punishments be based on what the incident was?” In conclusion, the NFL was made aware that the policies for punishment of off-field incidences wasn’t strict enough.
The NFL had to start by conduction interviews with players that were open to sharing information. The instrument that was used is qualitative information. The appropriate sample method for this research is a probability sampling because personal records of the players are already on file and they can choose narrow down the candidates for the survey to determine the best ones. Once all the information was gathered, the NFL was able to share the data by creating new policies for off-field incidences.
References
2014 NFL Fines/Suspensions Tracker. (2014).
Retrieved from http://www.spotrac.com/fines-tracker/nfl/2014/suspensions/ Cooper, D.R. & Schindler, P. S. (2014).
Business research methods (12th ed.).
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Morris, B. (2014, July 31).
The Rate of Domestic Violence Arrests Among NFL Players. DataLab. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/
