Last week the BSCA were informed in unprecedented numbers from our membership of their concerns regarding a survey being undertaken by Swim England, where they felt the content was biased and encouraged complaints against coaches.
The survey was undertaken as a part of a regulatory compliance exercise for Swim England as part of their ‘Heart of Aquatics’ initiative.
As a result of the complaints referred to, we (the BSCA) made the decision to have said survey considered by professionals in the field to shape our response and therefore commissioned Deltapoll to research the document and offer a professional opinion.
The findings from Deltapoll have, to say the least surprised us and given the content of the report, especially the following statement* below, we have taken the decision to make a formal complaint to the Market Research Society (MRS) under their Code of Conduct for such:
*“Time and again fundamental operational errors are made that could call the validity of the data into question. I would go further and say that the survey clearly violates the Market Research Society Code of Conduct (https://www.mrs.org.uk/pdf/MRS…) and that a formal complaint to the MRS is not only justified, but required.”
Having studied the content against the concerns of members, it is our understanding that under the MRS Code of Conduct, the following Rules have been breached on numerous occasions, Rule 19, 28 & 33. The report received explains in detail why this is. Read more of the report HERE.
The BSCA are disappointed that our involvement was not sought to assist Swim England in the formulation of this document so that such errors could possibly have been avoided. It is our view and the view of the experts to which we have referred this to, that the survey should be withdrawn and we look forward to working with Swim England to formulate a new survey that could encourage coach involvement and produce outcomes that would be more productive and effective as a result.
