About Us
Our History
The Fandom Survey began as a journalistic research project by Jesse Weisz to try to figure out why he, and other fans, root for who they root for. The survey was promoted with help from Ultiworld and StatMando and was called the Ultiworld/StatMando Fandom Survey. The first survey was filled out by over 1500 disc golf fans and Jesse wrote nine articles published by Ultiworld Disc Golf summarizing the results.
In 2023 the survey was expanded to answer even more questions as well as track change over time for longitudinal data. Over 3000 respondents filled out the survey and a team of writers produced seven articles summarizing the results. The survey attracted a talented team of volunteers and together, we have decided to professionalize this project and create what amounts to a census for the disc golf community and market research to help guide the decision makers who lead our sport.
What is New in 2024
We have taken several steps to make the survey sustainable, broader, and better for the community.
- The survey is now managed by First Available Research, a sports marketing research LLC started in March of 2024.
- Our team now includes two research scientists, an academic journal editor, and an organizational psychologist.
- We will follow academic research guidelines for both ethics and accuracy.
- We are using a new survey platform that dynamically tailors our survey to respondents’ answers, so we can ask more questions, and get deeper answers while still valuing our respondent’s valuable time.
- The DGPT and PDGA promoted the survey widely through on-air advertising, social media, and direct email campaigns. This greatly increased our sample size, which gave us more reliable data, and a wider range of analysis possibilities to answer many more questions that are of interest to the disc golf community. We can also more accurately study segments such as females, new players, retirement-age players, etc.
- As was suggested by several companies in the disc golf industry last year, for a fee, we are providing early access to our findings and custom analysis. This financial support is the only way possible to run a project of this scope in the long term.
- We will continue to publish articles during the offseason for the public to read for free on Ultiworld Disc Golf.
Our Team
Jesse Weisz
Jesse started the Fandom Survey in 2022 and owns First Available Research, the LLC that manages the survey. Jesse has played disc sports since the early 1990, became a fan of professional disc golf in 2017, and started writing about the sport in 2019 for Ultiworld.
Outside of disc golf, Jesse is the founder and executive director of GEEO, a non-profit organization that helps teachers travel and then bring their experiences back into their classrooms. He has traveled to over 90 countries.
Josiah Zoodsma
Josiah is FAR's director of data and research. He has been an avid disc golfer and active member of the Northeastern disc golf community since he began playing in 2019. He serves multiple roles on the First Available Research Team including survey architect, data analyst and has written articles for the team. Outside of disc golf, he is a post-doctoral fellow doing developmental neuroscience research in Philadelphia.
Lauren Campbell
Lauren is an industrial organizational psychologist with extensive experience in applied research and published studies in top-tier academic journals. Her work includes survey design and implementation and qualitative data analysis. She has been an avid disc golfer since 2020 and founded the Central Florida Women's Disc Golf club and the annual Queen Bee Bash women's tournament. She is passionate about helping the sport grow inclusively, accessibly, and sustainably.
Karl Lamothe
Karl is a research biologist in Ontario, Canada. His free time is spent mostly with his wife and dog, on his bicycle, out on the disc golf course, or combining his passions of disc golf, statistics, and writing. Karl is an active member of Statmando's team and is the editor for articles written by our team.
Douglass Tyas
Douglas has been playing and watching disc golf since 2015. He is a groundskeeper by trade, but on the side has contributed to Statmando since 2021, First Available Research since 2022, and written articles on Ultiworld.
Steven Andrews
Steven is the Interim Executive Editor of the Journal of American History (JAH) and an an adjunct professor in the Department of History at Indiana University. Steven's writing on disc has been featured in Ultiworld Disc Golf and he will be on our writing team in 2024.
Talk to us
Have any questions and suggestions? Think you have some skills that might benefit our team? We are always open to talk!