Wednesday, May 13, 2009

CEDA Nationals vs NDT attendance

I have put up some charts about CEDA Nats vs. NDT attendance.

The summary:

  • There was a sharp drop off in CEDA Nats attendance in 2009. Some coaches have suggested this was due to its placement in Pocatello, Idaho.
  • From 2004-2008, 57% of CEDA Nats competitors debated almost exclusively in the open division at other tournaments the year in question. CEDA Nats 2009 had a novice breakout, but we won't be able to see if or how attendance changed until Bruschke's 2008-2009 database dump comes out. Even then, any analysis will have to contend with the decreased total attendance.
  • Fewer than half of NDT teams skip CEDA Nats. There is very little correlation between NDT success and skipping CEDA.

The raw numbers and the code used to generate them are available.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Hybrid teams

Liz Kim suggested that hybrid teams be allowed to debate at the NDT.

I was curious about the number and nature of hybrid teams.

Sample:

All teams:

Hybrid teams:

Summary:

In the average year, about 6% of debaters participate in a hybrid team. 23% of these only debate on hybrid teams.

50% of tournaments have some hybrid entries, but those tournaments generate 58% of the ballots.

In addition to the charts, the raw data is also available.