Edge Hill Business School Fantasy Football League

This week, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how our Fantasy Football game can help us understand some concepts related to Research Methodology and – specifically – two terms related to Research Approach which often confuse us.   This post is, hopefully, useful for our final year students, but also for all students ahead of taking the Research Methods module in Yr2 Semester 2 before undertaking the final year dissertation.   The terms we’ll explore here are deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.  When we design a research project, we will usually lean towards either a deductive or inductive approach.  So.  what are these approaches?  How do they relate to research?  What’s the difference between these approaches?  And how can Fantasy Football help us understand these concepts in relation to our academic work.    First of all, its vitally important to recognise that we use both deductive and inductive rea...

Well. We've missed a few updates on the Fantasy Football league, due in no small part to the preparations for the new academic year.   But....we're back!  As I'm writing this, our new first year students have arrived on campus for Induction Week.  And faculty are very much looking forward to welcoming everyone back for the new semester kick-off next Monday 4th October.   If you're a new students here at EHU Business School and want to join this Fantasy Football League , please check this post .   GW6 Update When we last looked at the Premierleague table in GW3, Spurs were top and Arsenal were bottom.  Looking at the table today, we Arsenal in 10th and Spurs in 11th.   But let's be honest, we're not really interest in *that* table.   Our EHUBS-FF League Table has remained fairly similar at the top, with recent grad Jack Arliss continuing to score points, overtaking his arch-nemesis Joseph Waring at the top of the league. To...

This week's promised meditation on Critical Thinking turned into a 2k+ post - so I've also included as a PDF attachment.   I hope many of you will take the time to read this - and if not, then that bodes well for the FF Managers who do....... EHUBS Fantasy Football - Critical Thinking - Intl Wk Sept.pdf   GW# International Break - What can Fantasy Football teach us about critical thinking? Last week, I sent the GW3 update with a commitment to look at how this FF league can help us understand critical thinking.  As we have the international break, and no Premier League football this week, I thought this would be a good time to examine how we can derive some educational benefit from our EHU Business School Fantasy Football League.   The term “critical thinking” is a frustrating and often elusive concept – and there is a not a clear definition that everyone agrees on. Many people assume it means to “criticize”, but this is not always true. Being “critical” in ...

  Our Gameweek 3 update is here.  With the next set of fixtures in taking place after the international break, you all have until the   GW4 deadline on 11am on Saturday 11 th   September   to make changes to your team.   Gameweek 3 Update It happens every year.  Every year the same.  The international break appears, To ruin our fun and our game.   Two weeks to wallow in glory, Or lament our own misfortune, Two weeks to ponder the changes we’ll make, Before hostilities resume.    That’s right folks.  The dreaded international break is here. Two weeks of no Premier League.  Two weeks of wondering whether England will beat Hungary and Andorra; watching Scotland inevitably concede last minute goals in one-goal defeats against Moldova and Austria; praying that the Welsh will qualify for the World Cup with games against Belarus and Czech Republic, or awaiting for the underwhelming disappointment which will result from Northern I...

  This is your weekly EHU Business School Fantasy Football League update (arriving a little later than intended due to something called “annual leave”).  I am writing this from an Avanti train currently making its way from Edinburgh to Preston, so apologies for any typos.  We now have 74 students, staff and alumni participating in our inaugural league.  This is sure to grow once our new first year students rock-up to campus in October and add their team to our league.  You can still enter a team and join the league – though will only score points from GW3 onwards.  For those who have a team, but haven’t added it to our league yet, you can still join (with all your points).  In both cases,   click this link to take part .  GW2 in Review   They say it’s a marathon, not a sprint.  They say you shouldn’t make “rage transfers” on a Saturday afternoon when Guardiola chooses the wrong players and “Pep Roulette” plays havoc with your plans....

An excellent weekend of football!  Unless you happen to be a Leeds fan.  Our inaugural fantasy football league got off to a flying start, with a total of 71 students, staff and alumni taking part.  Each week, I’ll be aiming to provide updates on the ups-and-downs, screamers-and-own-goals, and general commentary on our little competition, whilst also trying my utmost to convince everyone (including myself) that there is any “academic and educational value” to all of this.  Our   Manager of the Week   has to be   Joseph Waring , whose team   Flying without Ings   accumulated an excellent 112 points. Joseph achieved this without playing any of the “bonus chips”, but only time will tell whether this was luck or Guardiola-esque football management genius. The   Most Selected Player   in our Mini-League in GW1 was Egyptian goal machine, Mo Salah, owned by 50 managers in our league (70%).  Salah is also the   Most Captained Playe...

Welcome to the inaugural EHU Business School Fantasy Football League.   The new season kicked off in August, but you can still enter a team.   First Years - If you already have an Official FPL team, you can add it the league (which will be updated after the next round of games).  If you have not yet entered a team, you can do so - but will only score points from the Gameweek entered. We already have nearly 100 students, staff and alumni taking part, and hopefully will see those numbers grow when our new 1st year students arrive.  All you have to do is scan the QR code below, or click this link .  Our League Code: c46ao6

Why Fantasy Football? Communities and Critical Thinking Many of us have an interest in football, and many of use already play Fantasy Football with friends.  Yet, there's also a solid pedagogical reason for us to get as many participants here.   Firstly, I'm very much hoping to use this to help students and staff engage beyond the classroom.  University works best when we have a connected educational community and a relaxed environment to explore our subject area.   To this end, I'll be providing updates regularly.  However, I also hope we can use this game to help build our community and have some fun.   Secondly - and perhaps more importantly for our business school - Fantasy Football *can* help students understand some key elemetns of critical thinking.  Like business, FF is a competitive environment, which has a pronounced impact on the way our decision-making and risk analysis processes work.  Playing the game and competing wit...