The reliability of team-based primary data collectors for the collection of exposure and protective equipment use data in community sport

Objective: Reliable data allows for the generalisation of study findings to the wider population. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of using community team based primary data collectors for the collection of exposure and protective equipment use data. Methods: Nine clubs (23 teams) from a metropolitan Australian Football league in Victoria each provided one primary data collector to monitor exposure and protective equipment use over a regular playing season. Four random audits of this data collection for each team were conducted throughout the regular playing season. The audits were compared with data collected by the club data collectors and the level of agreement assessed. Results: Although exposure data agreement was higher during competition and protective equipment use agreement higher during training, there was no significant difference in data collected by the primary data collectors and the random audits. Conclusions: The use of trained data collectors associated with Australian Football teams provides reliable information about player exposure and protective equipment use in community intervention studies.