Research Questions

Research Questions

For my Unit 2 project, I want to focus on AI in sports, especially the tension between data and the human side of the game. Here are three potential research questions:

Question 1: If AI can evaluate talent and predict outcomes better than humans, does that improve sports or take away part of the identity of the game?

Question 2: Would fans actually trust AI to make major decisions like draft picks or trades, or do we still need a human making those calls?

Question 3: When does AI stop being a helpful tool in sports and start changing what makes sports feel real and emotional?

I asked three people for each question, including friends, classmates, and one teammate, for a total of nine responses. Here are summaries of their responses:

Question 1 Responses:

  • AI makes sports smarter and more efficient.
  • It helps teams win but might remove tradition.
  • It depends on how much control it has.

Question 2 Responses:

  • Fans would not fully trust AI with big decisions.
  • There still needs to be accountability from a human.
  • It would feel strange if a machine made final calls.

Question 3 Responses:

  • AI changes the culture if it becomes too dominant.
  • Emotion and personality are what make sports meaningful.
  • As long as humans have final control, it is fine.

What I noticed is that the wording of each question really changed how people responded. The first question was broader, so most answers stayed surface level. People said things like AI makes sports more efficient or more advanced, but they did not go much deeper than that. It felt like they were giving safe, logical answers instead of personal opinions.

The second question created stronger reactions because I mentioned specific decisions like draft picks and trades. Once I made it more concrete, people imagined real situations and started talking about trust and accountability. A few people said they would feel uncomfortable if a machine had full control, even if it was statistically better. That surprised me because it shows that performance is not the only thing that matters to fans.

The third question led to the longest and most thoughtful responses. When I used phrases like identity of the game and feel real, people slowed down before answering and talked more about emotion, tradition, and connection. Instead of focusing only on efficiency, they started thinking about culture and experience. That showed me that questions that feel more personal or slightly controversial get more engagement.

Broader questions lead to short answers, but questions about identity and emotion push people to explain themselves. This helped me realize that the framing of a research question really matters, and my final project should focus on the tension between data and human experience rather than just asking if AI is good or bad.

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