An Exploratory Analysis of the Background and Motivation of Head Coaches and Student Athletes in Women’s Flag Football

An image of women playing flag football generated by M365 Copilot.

This research team will produce an exploratory descriptive analysis of the head coaches and student athletes participating in women’s flag football, a sport that has grown exponentially at both the high school and college levels over the past five years. 

Project is Not Currently Available

This project has reached full capacity for the current term. Please check back next semester for updates.

Project description

The growth of women's flag football in high school and intercollegiate athletics represents an opportunity to boost women’s involvement in sports and to close Title IX compliance gaps. However, little is known about the background and motivation of these coaches and athletes.

Prior research has shown that women’s sports added at the intercollegiate level have boosted female representation in athletics, but have fallen short of increasing other forms of diversity in college sports. Moreover, prior expansion of women’s sports have not always increased the representation of women amongst college coaches. Given the widespread popularity of flag football and limited barriers to entry, it is possible that the sport is more inclusive and will increase the diversity of student athletes. At the same time, it may also reproduce social inequities as seen in the expansion of other women’s sports.

The two students on this research team will work on parallel projects. One student will survey the head coaches of the 185 women’s high school flag football programs in New York. The second will survey the head coaches and players of the 150+ women’s intercollegiate flag football programs across the country. The results of these surveys will offer the first comprehensive insights into the coaches and athletes of a sport that continues to grow in popularity. 

Project outcome

  • Design and administer a survey using Qualtrics.
  • Analyze survey data and report descriptive statistics.
  • Write an article to submit to a peer-reviewed journal.
  • Draft an op-ed article articulating research findings for a public audience.
  • Present research in a peer-reviewed poster presentation at an academic conference.

Project details

Timing, eligibility and other details
Length of commitment Longer than a semester (about 6-9 months)
Start time Spring
In-person, remote, or hybrid? Hybrid
Level of collaboration Small group project (2-3 students)
Benefits Stipend
Who is eligible Sophomores and juniors with strong writing skills. Prior knowledge of Qualtrics preferred but not required.

Project mentor

Ryan Creps

Assistant Professor

Educational Leadership and Policy

Phone: (716) 645-0432

Email: rcreps@buffalo.edu

Start the project

  1. Email the project mentor using the contact information above to express your interest and get approval to work on the project. (Here are helpful tips on how to contact a project mentor.)
  2. After you receive approval from the mentor to start this project, click the button to start the digital badge. (Learn more about ELN's digital badge options.) 
Start the Digital Badge

Preparation activities

Once you begin the digital badge series, you will have access to all the necessary activities and instructions. Your mentor has indicated they would like you to also complete the specific preparation activities below. Please reference this when you get to Step 2 of the Preparation Phase. 

  1. Read Ask Better Questions (Hill, 2024)
  2. Complete CITI Training -- Human Research - Social/Behavioral Research Course
  3. Complete the ELN Mentored Research digitial badge

Keywords

educational leadership, policy, education, women, sports, survey, social sciences