We are searching for information about our topic to see if there have been any previous studies conducted that are related to the survey we are posing. First, we went to “Google” and searched using the key works “gender v. Cleveland sport preference.”  All we came up with was studies that were conducted concerning which sports different genders would prefer to play not watch, making that information useless.  Anytime we added the word “Cleveland” in the search, sites were brought up that contained a bunch of useless information that didn’t have anything to do about our survey.

     Then we searched “favorite sport and gender” into Google.  The top two results came up with good information.  The first URL was http://teacher.scholastic.com/kidusasu/favsport/resfswbg.htm. In this study, the question posed was: “What is your favorite sport to watch.”  This site provided pie charts separated by male and female responses.  The pie chart for females shows that only about 8% chose football and about 14% chose basketball. Baseball and hockey responses were so negligible that they weren’t even put into their own category, instead they were placed in “other” category.  For the guys, it shows 21% chose football, 19% chose basketball, 9% chose baseball, and 6% chose hockey. It appears that from these pie charts girls prefer other sports over the main professional sports we are concerned with in our survey.

     On that same Google search we found the website with the URL http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/?chartid=136. This showed how much people monitor what is going on in sports, containing both female and male bar graphs. From the data collected in the survey, it appears to be that there is an overall lack of interest in sports among women, with about two-thirds not paying attention. This lack of interest shows that women may not care about watching sports in general. After that, we searched “favorite sports to watch” in Google.  The top result was http://teacher.scholastic.com/kidusasu/favsport/resfsw.htm. This website presented us with a histogram showing which sports were preferred to watch compared to each other.  Although the data was not separated by gender, the results show us which sports are generally watched more often by people in America. Out of the 3507 people who answered this survey, 593 chose basketball and 535 chose football.  All of the rest of the sports were under 400. The information gathered by this webpage suggests that a majority of people prefer to watch basketball and football over any other sport.

     Again in Google we searched “favorite sports to watch in America” and we found the website http://www.gallup.com/poll/10438/Football-Reigns-Americas-Favorite-Sport.aspx .  On this website it shows a long term trend about popularity of sports to watch.  The chart shows that baseball’s popularity has dropped over the last 70 years, while football has increased significantly.  Also, basketball has become more popular but the rest have remained the same.  They took telephone interviews on a randomly selected national sample of 1011 adults, 18 and older. This website reinforces the other websites information showing football as the most popular sport.

     Then, we used the key words “favorite sport in America survey results” and we came up with the website http://www.gallup.com/poll/113503/Football-Remains-Runaway-Leader-Favorite-Sport.aspx .  On this website, it shows the difference in preference for basketball, baseball, and football, and also sorted by gender and age.  It shows that football is the most enjoyed to watch while basketball and baseball and about equal, behind football. Among women and men, they both have similar responses in favorite sport, with football rated highest among them all.  On the same website, we found another chart that had all the different sports, including the four sports we are surveying.  The question in the survey was “What is your favorite sport to watch?”  The results showed that 41% answered football, 10% answered baseball, 9% answered basketball, and only 4% answered ice hockey.

     Finally, in Google we searched “cavs tv ratings.”  We are trying to figure out if people might prefer to watch one sport over another based on if they have a winning season.  The URL of this website is http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/62322 .  With this, it shows that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ratings have gone up 116% as they have become more successful and won more games. Concerning our survey, the Cavs might have a higher percentage compared to the other teams because they are the most winning team in Cleveland currently, with the Browns, Indians, and Monsters struggling in their respective leagues.