Each summer since 1982 the National Football League has held a weeklong scouting combine, a chance for potential draftees to showcase their talents and a chance for teams to assess the athletes' physical and mental skills. Data from the combine is available online going back to 1987. It includes each individual's weight and height along with measures from the various physical skills tests in which each athlete participates. The data also provides an opportunity to review some basic statistics concepts and graphs.
Check out the differences in these Clemson University football teams.
Let's begin by comparing the sizes of potential NFL quarterbacks from the years 1987 and 2019. Tables of values of the data are given below along with box plots. Notice that each of the box plots is divided into four parts. Each part represents a quarter of the data. The variability of the data is shown in the overall length of each box - the more variable, the longer the graph; the less variable, the shorter.
Select the measure and the position you want to compare and Submit
1) Explore the data comparing changes over time by position and event. Describe the most interesting observation you make.
2) The data above includes a set of basic statistics: mean, standard deviation (s.d.), and median. In most cases the mean and median are relatively close. Identify a case where this is not true. How do you explain the difference?
3) Explain how you can derive a sense of the standard deviation of a set of data by examining its box plot. Describe what you notice happening generally to the amount of variability in the data over time. Identify specific cases of this generalization. Identify a case where the generalization does not hold true.
NFL combine statistics from NFL Combine Results. Downloaded August 29, 2019.
Images of the Clemson Tigers football team from WikiMedia Commons. Downloaded August 29, 2019.