A review of observational instruments to assess the motivational environment in sport and physical education settings

Abstract

21To date, the majority of research grounded in Achievement Goal frameworks (AGT) and 22Self-determination Theory (SDT), which has examined the coach-created motivational 23 environment and its correlates, has relied exclusively on athletes ' self-reported perceptions. 24 This limits progress in the field as objective data on real-life events could be used to further 25 identify what coaches and teachers do and say to 'motivate' their athletes and students to 26 influence their skill development, performance and well-being. Such information may help 27 inform how coaches and teachers should be trained to create more motivationally adaptive 28 environments and could help extend results derived from self-report measures. This review 29 outlines the observational systems that are currently available and the research related to 30 AGT and/or SDT-based objective assessments of motivational dimensions of the coaching 31 and physical education (PE) environment. Future research could utilise information in this 32 review to employ and/or amend one of the available observation systems to address important 33 questions related to the observed motivational environment in sport and PE. 34 36 37 38 39 40 41In this paper, we first provide a brief overview of AGT, SDT and identify key features 64 of the social environment relevant to the two theoretical perspectives. We then provide a 65 review of the observational systems that are currently available to researchers interested in 66 RUNNING HEAD: OBSERVING THE MOTIVATIONAL ENVIRONMENT 4 observing motivationally relevant dimensions of the social environment in sport and PE 67 settings. 68While we acknowledge there are contextual differences between sport and PE 69 (discussed later in the paper), both are achievement settings where individuals seek to 70 demonstrate competence and require motivation to fulfil their potential (Roberts, 2001; 71 2012). In addition, the roles and behaviours of a PE teacher and coach have considerable 72 overlap where both figures aim to educate and engage their students and athletes in an 73 attempt to promote skill development, knowledge accrual and optimise performance. From a 74 theoretical perspective, the principles of adaptive and maladaptive motivational 75 environments, as highlighted by AGT and SDT, are considered to be applicable to both sport 76 and PE contexts (see Roberts & Treasure, 2012). Sport and PE-based research, grounded in 77 AGT or SDT frameworks, has typically focused on a number of key dimensions of the 78 perceived motivational environment and these environmental dimensions have been studied 79 within different age groups, across countries and at varying competitive levels (Mageau & 80 Vallerand, 2003;Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999;Reeve & Jang, 2006). The environmental 81 dimensions relevant to AGT and SDT will be reviewed later in the paper. Given the overlap 82 between the types of environment likely to promote or undermine motivation in both sport 83 and PE contexts, observational systems developed in both settings w...

Similar but different: Profiling secondary school students based on their perceived motivational climate and psychological need-based experiences in physical education

“…In the context of PE two major theoretical frameworks of motivation can be discerned: achievement goal theory (AGT) [15][16][17] and self-determination theory (SDT) [18]. Both theories stress the importance of the learning environment created by the teacher [19].…”

“…According to AGT individuals strive to perceive themselves as competent [20]. In doing so, different achievement goals can be discerned which differentially guide and influence the behaviour, cognition and emotion [21] and how an individual defines competence and success [11,19]. According to the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework [17,22] four different achievement goals are distinguished.…”

The Need-Relevant Instructor Behaviors Scale: Development and Initial Validation

“…The scale complements existing measures designed to objectively assess the motivationally relevant content of the physical activity environment. For example, the dual coding of intensity and frequency of need-supportive and need-thwarting behavior enactment provides a more meaningful evaluation of the motivational environment manifested in physical activity contexts than could be ascertained from measures designed to assess only the frequency of particular behaviors (e.g., Reeve et al, 2004;Webster et al, 2013) or only the potency of the motivational environment (Smith et al, 2016). With regard to frequency ratings, in recognition of the fact that it is very rare that any behavior could be enacted 100% of the time, the frequency scale in the proposed measure does not take an "all or nothing" approach.…”

“…Observation is a methodological approach that involves having trained observers follow a specified protocol to record observed dialogue or behavior (Darst, Zakrajsek, & Mancini, 1989). In the sport and education context, there have been several attempts to employ SDT-based observation methodologies to assess motivationally relevant behaviors of the coach or teacher (for a recent review, see Smith, Quested, Appleton, & Duda, 2016). However, there has been a relative dearth of such approaches in the exercise domain.…”

“…Via this approach, it is possible for a high potency score for a specific behavior to be achieved even if the frequency rating is low (e.g., instructors may not belittle or devalue exercisers very often, but using such behaviors can still have a strong impact on the receiver). This potency score provides an indication of the "psychological meaning" of certain behaviors that could be highly impactful, even if infrequently implemented (Smith et al, 2016). In the present study, we developed a rating system to assess both the intensity of instructor behaviors (i.e., the perceived strength of the impact of such instructor behaviors upon the need satisfaction and need frustration of exercisers) as well as the frequency of their occurrence.…”