An Insight into the Management of Data in Sport Economics Research

Resumen

Researchers in the sport field often face a challenge when they have to collect and analyse data for their research, although they often benefit from a great availability of data on sport performance. In the case that primary data are used, the author(s) should carefully reflect on the information required to answer the research question. Author(s) also may use secondary data, but in any case the author(s) should be able to organise and interpret the bulk of the available information. The use of quantitative methods is widespread in sports research and demands familiarity with basic statistical techniques and econometric methodologies. Surveys are an important source of data in sports research, especially in sports economics. The author(s) should operate with a sample that is representative of the population and apply the most appropriate research techniques given the purpose of the research and the nature of the data used. Statistical analysis allows the interpretation and analysis of the data and it can be classified into two groups: descriptive and inferential analysis. The basic descriptive analysis consists of describing variables by computing their mean values, standard deviations, and/or frequencies. However, in general, the researcher is not only interested in describing variables but in finding relationships between them. Inferential statistics allows to infer relationships or differences between two or more variables and make probabilistic statements about the population from the sample information. Different tests can be conducted to examine the correlation between variables, although if the researcher is interested in predictions, a regression analysis should be used. The regression analysis allows the study of the change in the explained variable when each independent variable changes, so that the researcher obtains more accurate conclusions. Anyway, the choice of the appropriate technique is key for the conclusions to be reliable.