Assessment, Evaluation, & Research

The Assessment, Evaluation, and Research competency area focuses on the ability to design, conduct, critique, and use various AER methodologies and the results obtained from them, to utilize AER processes and their results to inform practice, and to shape the political and ethical climate surrounding AER processes and uses in higher education (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).

Assessment, evaluation, and research (AER) has proven to be one of the more intimidating core competencies. When I committed to working in athletics, it was because of the personal interactions, the emphasis on teamwork, and exciting events. However, these fun interpersonal components go hand-in-hand with the numbers, spreadsheets, record-keeping, and data management that happens behind the scenes. College sports have become increasingly more data-driven, and the NIL industry especially relies on social media data, contract valuations, etc. I have had to embrace the numbers.

The core competency can be broken down into a number of sub-categories, including:

• interpreting, reporting, and using results
• methodology, data collection, and data use
• values, politics, and ethics
• terms and concepts.

While all of these are relevant to my work in business development, I have really relied on these skills for student-athlete engagement. As the Director of Athlete Engagement for the recently-founded NIL collective Cav Futures, I faced an interesting question: how to create an on-boarding process for the students who want to be involved with us. Fortunately, I encountered this challenge at the same time as I was enrolled in EDLF 7610: Research in Higher Education. Throughout this course, we explored various research methods and dedicated time to creating surveys and interview protocols for practice. My initial project was focused on young adult relationship satisfaction and awareness of the 5 Love Language model - nothing to do with sports. However, the techniques I developed throughout this course and its projects inspired the student-athlete on-boarding process that I programmed for Cav Futures.

Inspired by the key takeaways from qualitative and quantitative research methods, I was able to create an on-boarding survey for my organization that captures essential contact information, quantifiable identity data (e.g. what sport you play, academic year, etc), and qualitative responses that allow us to get to know the respondent better. The responses live in a protected drive that only I have access to. It has allowed me to efficiently reach out to prospective student-athlete partners, and put together a big picture view of all the students we work with.

The advanced skills associated with AER stress the ability to communicate results effectively: “Lead the design and writing of varied and diverse communications of assessment, program review, evaluation, and other research activities that include translation of data analyses into goals and action.” The last year has given me a lot of experience in developing research methods, internal data management, and interpreting results. I look forward to continue developing my AER communication skills as my current organization expands and I am challenged to discuss our internal insights on a bigger scale with more stakeholders.