In 2007, most football fans would have considered the New England Patriots to be a winning dynasty. Having won three Super Bowl Championships between 2002 and 2005, they were a powerhouse franchise hungry for more success. That is why the 2007 Patriots cheating scandal caused such an uproar.
The team was accused of secretly recording the New York Jets defensive signals after a total blowout win. This accusation started to disgrace the name and reputation of the team and allude to the fact that the Patriots success is largely due to their "hidden cameras". I read an article from ESPN that talked about what the accusations were and how they came to the conclusions. It mentioned repercussions the Patriots could suffer and how their court process will unfold.
However, as more information came out, more charges were made and the Patriots were being investigated on the number of radio frequencies they were using during given games and if that could have contributed to insider information causing an abundance of wins. The Patriots felt blindsided by this whole ordeal and owner, Robert Kraft, simple stated that he was not surprised his team was being investigated due to their success. Anytime someone is consistently winning, their competition will do anything to sabotage.
This scenario relates to unobtrusive research because if in fact the Patriots were filming signals and plays and using too many radio frequencies, they were doing it without the knowledge of the subjects. I never thought of hidden cameras as a research method until this class, but now am able to analyze the situation and conclude it was, in fact, unobtrusive research. They were studying the coaches and players in their natural habitat watching them do what they would typically do. There was no consent given to record the information and therefore could be considered an invasion of privacy.
This also brings up an ethics issue in that not only was there no confirmed consent, there was cheating involved. In any aspect of life cheating is frowned upon. Whether it is cheating or plagiarising in school, getting insider information, or even cheating on your spouse, it is never considered ethical.
The result of the scandal was that the Patriots were indeed found guilty of these accusations having apparently violated the no cameras in the coaches booth rule.
This relates to class due to the fact it was unobtrusive research and violated ethics. They were studying the plays on film from previous games and seasons which could be looked at as content analysis, and by having coaches assigned to observing the competitor coach's, indirect research would be performed. Knowing what plays are going to be executed totally changes the outcome of the game, and essentially eliminates the need to play.
Having sports as the focus of my blog, and being a die hard New England Patriots fan, I found this to be the perfect blog for this week. I remember the scandal and how it was shameful to be a Pats fan for those few weeks, but I never understood the research and ethics behind it. I, along with a lot of the population, just focused on the cheating and how absurd that was. Now, however, I realize that the collection of data plays an important role in that cheating and how it was unethical, not just the fact that they were cheating. This class has given me to opportunity to look back on past experiences and start to understand why things were right or wrong from research standpoints and how information was obtained. The understanding of research methods causes me to think more and consider where the information came from, how it can be used and whether or not its ethical.
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