Methodology

The Kano Model

The survey questions were designed using the Kano Model, which was selected because of its ability to provide an interpretive framework by pairing satisfaction measures for the presence and absence of COVID-19-related adaptations. The outcome of the Kano Model is the ability to determine how people feel about proposed adaptations to the youth sports experience to promote safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each adaptation contained three questions:

1. Functional Question: How they feel with the adaptation present
2. Dysfunctional Question: How they feel without the adaptation present
3. Importance Question: How important it is to have the adaptation

Every functional and dysfunctional answer pair resulted in a categorical assignment as shown below.

The importance question was asked on a traditional 1-5 Likert-type scale ranging from extremely important (5) to not-at-all important (1). Answers to the functional and dysfunctional pairs were scored on the following scale:

The functional question asked about their feelings if the adaptation was present. For example, for "Benches and Dugouts," the functional question asked: During the pandemic, how do you feel about minimizing the capacity of bench and dugout areas for athletes?

The dysfunctional question was similar but asked their feelings if the adaptation did not exist. For example, for “Benches and Dugouts,” the dysfunctional question asked: How do you feel about athletes being allowed to sit in traditional bench and dugout areas at full capacity?

In sum, a total of 36 questions (12 adaptations with 3 questions each) formed the basis of the survey design. Because of the lengthy survey, each respondent randomly received half of the Kano-related questions to facilitate survey completion.

After removing respondents classified into the Questionable category, the mean functional and dysfunctional scores for each adaptation were placed onto a scatterplot, divided into five areas for interpretative purposes as shown below. The size of the dot placed on the graph represents the respondent’s self-stated importance rating; the more important the adaptation, the larger the dot.

The quadrants can be interpreted as follows:

1. Performance: Users like having these adaptations, and dislike not having them. The more of the adaptation that is provided, the more satisfied users become.
2. Must-be: Adaptations that are expected by users. If the experience does not have them, it will result in significant dissatisfaction.
3. Reverse: Adaptations that users do not want.
4. Indifferent: The presence or absence does not make a real difference in the user’s experience. These occur for “I don’t care” or “I can tolerate it” answers for functional and dysfunctional answers.
5. Attractive: Occurs when users like having an adaptation they were not expecting. Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hypothesized that no adaptations would land in this category.

In sum, the answers of the functional, dysfunctional, and importance questions provide a framework for understanding how parents, athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators feel about each COVID-19-related adaptation at youth sports events. In turn, the results, discussed in the next section, can be used by venues and event operators to deliver a safe and user-friendly experience when families, athletes, and officials return to the field.