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Measuring Constructs

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Abstract

In the early days of sport and exercise psychology research, measurements were central and a sign that even social sciences could mimic ‘real sciences’. So complex constructs were broken down into its constituent parts and operationalised, reliability and validity moved to the forefront, and statistical analyses became ever more advanced with the advent of the personal computer. Basic Likert-type scales continue to generate numbers that nowadays can be analysed in multidimensional space, but with the risk of making the tool more important than the answer to the original question—methodolatry (‘an overenhanced valuing of methodology’) threatens to refocus our attention from the empirical data to the tools we use to analyse it. The chapter concludes by describing three constructs: burnout, mood states, and achievement goals and the need to consider each construct versus how it has been operationalised.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter Hassmén

  2. Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Canberra Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Richard Keegan

  3. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    David Piggott

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  1. Peter Hassmén
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  2. Richard Keegan
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  3. David Piggott
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Hassmén, P., Keegan, R., Piggott, D. (2016). Measuring Constructs. In: Rethinking Sport and Exercise Psychology Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48338-6_7

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