Vom erwartbaren Erkenntnispotenzial der Auftragsforschung zu Sportvereinen

Sports club research has a long tradition in Germany and has produced a considerable variety of methodological approaches and theoretical as well as empirical knowledge. This article provides an epistemologically oriented determination and reflection of the potential of knowledge of current sports club research against the background of the tender objectives of the sports development report on waves 7 to 9 (SEB 3.0). It becomes clear that in conflict between normatively charged goals of the SEB—defined by the public client (principal)—non-judgmental, theory-guided and theory-based empirical sports club research is hardly possible. This means that it is rather difficult to carry out sports club research that is based on current research and is also able to generate new and reliable scientific knowledge. Therefore, a clearer differentiation is recommended between knowledge-guided research and normatively broken objectives aimed at policy advice. In dealing with these issues, methodological and methodological strategies are proposed to achieve the goals of SEB 3.0. At the same time, the chance of generating additional theoretical and empirical knowledge on the subject of “sports club” is increased.     

Muskuläre Regulation bei ermüdungsinduzierter Vorbelastung im Krafttraining

International sport strives for increasing the level of performance in sports. Risks of manipulating the performance are not unusual. At the same time, improvements in science, engineering and data processing offer further opportunities for planning effective, low-risk and year-round training programmes for specific sports. This paper presents new approaches based on the example of techniques for strength training. Selected experimental results highlight the limitations and provide conclusions for the scientific foundation and individualization of high performance training. The approach of “muscle pre-fatigue” is verified in a training study with high jumpers. The statements show how important scientifically controlled analysis is for individual training programmes and what high significance they have for optimizing the training process. These will be essential requirements for a legal improvement of high performance in international sport.     

Exploring Authority: A Case Study of a Composition and a Professional Writing Classroom

This article reports on classroom research designed to answer questions about authority—how institutions and disciplines, broadly conceived, influence teachers' ability to abnegate authority and how students' experiences influence their perceptions of authority in a business writing and a first-year composition class. The theoretical framework is derived from research about institutional and disciplinary influences on these two areas of study. This framework and our results lead us to speculate about the ways in which our students' experience of the institution and expectations of the classes and their intentions for using the material taught in the classes may have thwarted our attempt to share authority in our classrooms.     

Pictorial presentation and review strategies in science learning

To test the effects of pictorial presentation and a pictorial review task on science learning, all-verbal or verbal-pictorial presentation conditions were followed by either pictorial practice or a control task. The 96 undergraduate participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions presented on a computer-assisted instruction terminal. The groups differed significantly on a pictorial recognition test but not on a verbal posttest. The results favored the pictorial presentation with review condition. Experiment Two tested the effectiveness of the pictorial review task compared to a read-twice control. The same all-verbal presentation condition was given to 50 undergraduates who were then randomly assigned to the pictorial review task or to the re-read condition. The pictorial review condition facilitated performance on the pictorial posttest relative to the re-read condition and produced more favorable attitudes as well.     

Role of reading engagement in mediating effects of reading comprehension instruction on reading outcomes

The engagement model of reading development suggests that instruction improves students' reading comprehension to the extent that it increases students' engagement processes in reading. We compared how Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) (support for cognitive and motivational processes in reading), strategy instruction (support for cognitive strategies in reading), and traditional instruction in fourth‐grade classrooms differentially influenced students' reading comprehension, strategy use, and engagement in reading. Students experiencing CORI were significantly higher than both comparison groups on reading comprehension, reading strategies, and reading engagement. When students' level of reading engagement was statistically controlled, the differences between the treatment groups were not significant. We infer that the level of students' reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Disentangling the predictive validity of high school grades for academic success in university

To refine selective admission models, we investigate which measure of prior achievement has the best predictive validity for academic success in university. We compare the predictive validity of three core high school subjects to the predictive validity of high school grade point average (GPA) for academic achievement in a liberal arts university programme. Predictive validity is compared between the Dutch pre-university (VWO) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Moreover, we study how final GPA is predicted by prior achievement after students complete their first year. Path models were separately run for VWO (n = 314) and IB (n = 113) graduates. For VWO graduates, high school GPA explained more variance than core subject grades in first-year GPA and final GPA. For IB graduates, we found the opposite. Subsequent path models showed that after students’ completion of the first year, final GPA is best predicted by a combination of first-year GPA and high school GPA. Based on our small-scale results, we cautiously challenge the use of high school GPA as the norm for measuring prior achievement. Which measure of prior achievement best predicts academic success in university may depend on the diploma students enter with.     

Treatment of muscle injuries in football

ABSTRACT

Muscle injuries are frequent and represent one of the most substantial medical problems in professional football. They can have both traumatic and overuse causes with direct practical consequence due to differences in terms of the post-primary care regimen and prognosis. An accurate diagnosis is the first step towards a specific treatment and usually allows to predict return to play (RTP). Current treatment principles have no firm scientific basis; they are practiced largely as empirical medicine due to a lack of prospective randomised studies. Immediate treatment usually follows the PRICE-principle (protection, rest, ice, compression, elevation). Depending on the type of the muscle injury, specific physical and physiotherapeutical procedures as well as rehabilitative exercises and gradual training therapy are used to recondition the injured structure, to restore coordination and proprioception, and to normalise movement patterns. Injection therapy with various substances is frequently used, with positive results empirically, but evidence in form of prospective randomised studies is lacking. A precise rehabilitation plan should be developed for every muscle injury, including recommendations for sport-specific training with increasing intensity. Since there are no guidelines regarding safe RTP, regular follow-up examinations on the current muscle status are crucial to evaluate the progress made in terms of healing and to determine when the injured muscle can be exposed to the next step of load. This narrative review describes the various factors that a medical team should consider during assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of a muscle injury with particular focus on professional football.     

Algorithmically generated subject categories based on citation relations: An empirical micro study using papers on overall water splitting

One important reason for the use of field categorization in bibliometrics is the necessity to make citation impact of papers published in different scientific fields comparable with each other. Raw citations are normalized by using field-categorization schemes to achieve comparable citation scores. There are different approaches to field categorization available. They can be broadly classified as intellectual and algorithmic approaches. A paper-based algorithmically constructed classification system (ACCS) was proposed which is based on citation relations. Using a few ACCS field-specific clusters, we investigate the discriminatory power of the ACCS. The micro study focusses on the topic ‘overall water splitting’ and related topics. The first part of the study investigates intellectually whether the ACCS is able to identify papers on overall water splitting reliably and validly. Next, we compare the ACCS with (1) a paper-based intellectual (INSPEC) classification and (2) a journal-based intellectual classification (Web of Science, WoS, subject categories). In the last part of our case study, we compare the average number of citations in selected ACCS clusters (on overall water splitting and related topics) with the average citation count of publications in WoS subject categories related to these clusters. The results of this micro study question the discriminatory power of the ACCS. We recommend larger follow-up studies on broad datasets.