Filtering out bad questions in order to reach a good research goal can be difficult. In terms of college recruiting, many subtopics lie under the blanket term; however, I am beginning my recruiting knowledge myself and history and direction are important to understanding contemporary recruiting. Analyzing what I know and understand directed me to two main questions: What are some of the most infamous NCAA recruiting violations and what differences are there before the new NIL agreement versus now? The two previous questions will allow me to narrow in on violations that get recruiters in trouble, and what are the limits now. To fulfill my ultimate goals of starting a business that aids young college athletes in managing their money as the move into the NCAA world, I must understand the innerworkings of the system.
Collegiate sports and the NCAA are responsible for billions of dollars of revenue each year. America is a society that prides itself on its athletics and reaches a wide audience. Specifically, parents and young teenagers preparing to make the transition to the collegiate world is what the research is directed for. I want families to know the do’s and don’ts of profiting off an athlete’s name, image, and likeness as well as what to avoid if other recruiting agents try an advance. In addition, many common readers of the U.S. will probably be interested to know how much money and the tactics involved in college sports, because it makes them feel closer to the game.
What guided my research in the beginning came from an idea my friends and I had during our quarantined stint in 2019. Without college sports, a lot of us realized how important and invested we were into sports. We collaborated and tried to develop a plan to allow us to stay involved with sports and give us some sort of career path. What came out of those conversations was an idea to start a recruiting and wealth management agency for young collegiate athletes who were up against a billion-dollar corporation, the NCAA. The buzz around NCAA tensions between the organization and the athletes they represent has always been evident, and my research will allow players to be more knowledgeable. Knowledge is key, and college is such an important time to take advantage of all the resources available, especially as a student athlete.
These research questions appear to open with a bias against the NCAA. While that doesn’t automatically disqualify the questions or your approach, it does open your argument to criticism on the basis of bias. Because the NIL rule is so new, there’s likely to be little research about how it impacts students athletes, either positively or negatively. That’s certainly part of the reason you’re interested in this study, to gather evidence to support development of talent agencies for “the little guy” in college athletics. As a result, I think your research questions need to focus on conjectures and conditionals. Something like this: What potential positive and negative impacts might the NIL rule have on college athletes who are unlikely to pursue sports professionally as a career? You seem interested in understanding how the NIL rule might enable student athletes in smaller programs to profit in ways that student athletes in larger, high profile programs (FBS, for example) can and will profit. More specifically, you seem interested in exploring the extent to which the NIL rule might serve as a way to combat the NCAA control on profits in student athletics in the U.S. by ensuring athletes have a say in the way their NIL is portrayed and used. If that’s so, then consider a question that seeks to measure the extent to which the new rule can and has (or can’t and doesn’t) dampen NCAA control over profits.