Research methods in sport and exercise psychology: quantitative and qualitative issues

Contemporary aspects of research methods in sport and exercise psychology are discussed in this wide-ranging review. After an introduction centred on trends in sport and exercise psychology methods, the review is organized around the major themes of quantitative and qualitative research. Our aim is to highlight areas that may be problematic or controversial (e.g. stepwise statistical procedures), underused (e.g. discriminant analysis), increasingly used (e.g. meta-analysis, structural equation modelling, qualitative content analysis) and emergent (e.g. realist tales of writing). Perspectives range from the technical and speculative to the controversial and critical. While deliberately not providing a 'cookbook' approach to research methods, we hope to provide enough material to help researchers to appreciate the diversity of potential methods and to adopt a more critical perspective in their own research consumption and production.     

Tracking of physical activity in pubertal boys with different BMI over two-year period

We examined the tracking of physical activity (PA) measured by accelerometers and subjective self- and parental reports in normal weight and overweight and obese pubertal boys over two-year period. In total, 156 boys with mean (±SD) age of 11.53 ± 0.76 at baseline and with mean age of 13.94 ± 0.74 at 2 year follow-up were studied. At baseline and approximately two years later, the boys completed self-report questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. On the basis of first year assessment’s body mass index (BMI), the children were grouped as normal weight and overweight and obese groups according to BMI cut-offs. Tracking correlations of objectively measured PA and subjectively measured PA were fairly similar across the 12–14 year-old-boys weight groups over two year period. Tracking correlations of objectively measured PA and subjectively measured PA were not significantly different over two-year period between both BMI groups. The results of the study show that pubertal boys objectively measured PA decreased over two-year period and so the boys started to be less active in their pubertal period.     

The use of spatial manipulation to examine goalkeepers’ anticipation

This study investigated whether anticipation and search strategies of goalkeepers are influenced by temporally and spatially manipulated video of a penalty. Participants were clustered into three groups depending on skill: goalkeepers (n = 17), field players (n = 20) and control group (n = 20). An eye tracker was worn whilst watching 40 videos of a striker kicking to four corners of a goal in random order. All 40 videos were temporally occluded at foot-to-ball contact, and the non-kicking leg of 20 videos was spatially manipulated. Results showed that goalkeepers had significantly better predictions than the two groups with no differences between the two testing conditions. According to effect size, the percentage of fixation location and viewing time of the kicking leg and ball were greater for the goalkeepers and field players group than the control group irrespective of testing conditions. The fixations on the kicking leg and ball in conjunction with comparable predictions between spatially manipulated and control conditions suggest that goalkeepers may not rely on the non-kicking leg. Furthermore, goalkeepers appear to use a global perceptual approach by anchoring on a distal fixation point/s of the penalty taker whilst using peripheral vision to obtain additional information.     

‘The Product of the Town Itself’: Community Representation and the Stanley Cup Hockey Challenges of the Kenora Thistles, 1903–1907

This case study of community representation in Canadian hockey analyzes media accounts of four Stanley Cup hockey series played by the Kenora Thistles between 1903 and 1907. It examines newspaper coverage of the Thistles hockey club as it moved from an amateur team represented by players with roots in their home community to a professional aggregation that included paid imports from outside the town. The essay explores the relationship between sport and civic identity during a key time of change in top-level hockey. The dominant narrative surrounding the Thistles portrayed players as true ‘members’ of the town of Kenora. Even after the turn to professionalism, narratives of small-town, amateur purity and close connections to the community characterized coverage of the Thistles as they pursued the Stanley Cup. At the same time, however, a growing emphasis on securing the personnel that could ensure victory led to praise for the club’s efforts to please its supporters, or ‘customers’. As a result, this study of notions of civic representation in early hockey provides insight into the process by which sports teams came to be viewed as symbolic representatives of their communities.     

The influence of live- vs. video-model presentation on the early acquisition of a new complex coordination

Background: Demonstration is a widely used method in sports teaching and coaching, based on the assumption that it is more beneficial than verbal instructions or trial-and-error methods for skill acquisition. Although in teaching/coaching situations, the demonstration is usually carried out in front of the learners, in a research context, it is most often presented via a video. However, a direct comparison between these two types of model has rarely been undertaken in a motor context.

Purpose: In this study, we aimed to compare the effectiveness of the observation of a live and a videomodel for the early acquisition of a complex judo movement.

Research Design: Participants observed either a live or a videomodel executing the task. After observation, they practised for three minutes taking five trials and then performed it for analysis. This procedure was repeated three times. The form and technique of each participant's execution were evaluated using a technical score.

Main results: The results indicated a significant improvement in the task execution by the end of the practice session. However, this improvement occurred only for the video-model group between the second and third blocks of practice.

Conclusions: The video demonstration seems more effective than the live one for the early acquisition of a completely new complex coordination. This may be due to the simplification of the visual information in the former condition because of its two-dimensionality. This simplification may allow the observer to identify the more key elements that would guide him/her for the subsequent performance of the task.     

Development of a grinding-specific performance test set-up

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a performance test set-up for America's Cup grinders. The test set-up had to mimic the on-boat grinding activity and be capable of collecting data for analysis and evaluation of grinding performance. This study included a literature-based analysis of grinding demands and a test protocol developed to accommodate the necessary physiological loads. This study resulted in a test protocol consisting of 10 intervals of 20 revolutions each interspersed with active resting periods of 50 s. The 20 revolutions are a combination of both forward and backward grinding and an exponentially rising resistance. A custom-made grinding ergometer was developed with computer-controlled resistance and capable of collecting data during the test. The data collected can be used to find measures of grinding performance such as peak power, time to complete and the decline in repeated grinding performance.     

Exact solutions for concentration dependent diffusion and the inverse complementary error function

A direct method of studying the qualitative behavior of concentration dependent diffusion is based on exact solution of problems with diffusion coefficients which are piecewise constant functions of concentration. Polynomial approximations are given for the inverse of the complementary error function. They facilitate the direct method and also Philip's inverse method of studying qualitative behavior.     

Formulation of stable difference schemes for systems of initial-value partial differential equations

A general system of initial-value partial differential equations is classified into four categories based on the partial differential operators which define the equations. Specific combinations of the operators are termed “invariants” since they are common to all finite difference approximations to the system of equations. The “invariants” are used to a priori determine if one may formulate a stable difference approximation to a system of partial differential equations. This is in essence a numerical existence theory.     

Parents’ Perceptions of and Responses to Children’s Emotions: Relations With Meta-Emotion Philosophy and Adult Attachment

Objective. This study investigated how parents’ perceptions of, feelings toward, and anticipated responses to children’s emotions relate to parents’ meta-emotion philosophy and attachment. Design. Parents (112 mothers and 95 fathers) completed an online research study where they viewed photographs of unfamiliar girls and boys (aged 10–14 years) displaying varying intensities of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and neutral expressions. Parents labeled the emotion, identified the emotion’s intensity, and reported their mirrored emotion and responses. They also completed measures assessing their meta-emotion philosophy and attachment. Results. Meta-emotion philosophy predicted parents’ responses to children’s negative emotion, in that greater emotion-coaching predicted greater accuracy in labeling emotions (boys only), a greater likelihood to interact with children, and for mothers to be further from the mean in either direction in their mirrored emotion. Attachment also predicted parents’ responses to children’s negative emotions: Parents higher in anxiety reported more mirrored emotion, and those higher in avoidance reported less mirrored emotion, lower intensity, and less willingness to interact (boys only). In exploratory models for positive emotion, parents’ meta-emotion philosophy did not predict their responses, but parents higher in attachment avoidance rated girls’ positive emotions as less intense, reported less mirrored emotion, less willingness to interact, and less supportive responses, and those higher in anxiety showed the opposite pattern. Conclusion. Despite methodological limitations, results offer new evidence that parents’ ratings on a standardized emotion perception task as well as their anticipated responses toward children’s emotion displays are predicted by individual differences in their attachment and meta-emotion philosophy.