Lacrosse PLL vs. NLL - First Draft

difference in two means

Comparing scoring rates between indoor and outdoor profesional lacrosse leagues.

Published

February 5, 2024

Module

Please note that these material have not yet completed the required pedagogical and industry peer-reviews to become a published module on the SCORE Network. However, instructors are still welcome to use these materials if they are so inclined.

Introduction

This module examines the goals and shots in two prominent lacrosse leagues: the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) and the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The PLL and NLL are highly regarded professional lacrosse leagues that feature top-tier athletes from around the world. The PLL is played in an outdoor, smaller field while the NLL plays on an indoor field with traditional dimensions. This data set allows for an analysis of goal-scoring within these leagues to look for differences between indoor and outdoor play

Learning Objectives

The learning goals associated with this module are:

Students will be able to test for a difference in means between two groups.
Students will be able to find a confidence interval for a difference in means between two groups.

Methods

This module requires students use a two-sample test and confidence interval (e.g., t-test or randomization) to compare the means of two groups.

Technology requirement: The activity handout assume that students can use technology to perform a two-sample test and find a confidence interval for a difference in means between two groups, using raw data from the datafile.

Data

The data set has 162 rows with 9 columns. Each row represents a single lacrosse match either in the Premier Lacrosse League or the National Lacrosse League.

Download data: lacrosse_pll_nll_201202022.csv

Variable Descriptions

Variable	Description
League	The Premier Lacrosse league and the National Lacrosse League
Away_team	The traveling team
Home_team	The hosting team
Away_shots	How many shots the `Away_team` had on net
Home_shots	How many shots the `Home_team` had on net
Away_goals	How many goals the `Away_team` had on net
Home_goals	How many goals the `Home_team` had on net
goals_per_game	The total amount of goals scored each game
goals_per_48	The average amount of goals for the first 48 minutes of a game

Data Sources

Premier Lacrosse League stats. Premier Lacrosse League Stats. (n.d.). https://stats.premierlacrosseleague.com/

Player stats. NLL. (2023, January 26). https://www.nll.com/stats/all-player-stats/

Materials

The data and worksheet associated with this module are available for download through the following links.

lacrosse_pll_nll_201202022.csv - Dataset with game-by-game shots and goals scored for both leagues in the 2021-2022 season..
lacrosse_pll_nll_worksheet.docx- Activity worksheet to compare scoring and shots between indoor and outdoor leagues.

Sample solutions to the worksheets

lacrosse_pll_nll_worksheet_key.docx - Activity worksheet with sample solutions.

Conclusion

Students should that while no discernible difference between average goals per game was discovered, after adjusting for the length of the game, PLL (i.e., the 48-minute outdoor league) has the higher rate per 48-minutes.

Authors

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