Conducting Team building research in the context of sport and exercise

Abstract

Team building (TB) research in sport psychology can be those forms of investigation that systematically examine the effectiveness of interventions developed to (a) influence, expectations and attitudes, and (d) reduce or eliminate group properties that detract or hinder the group's development toward effective teamwork. The objective of TB research is to identify controlled targetted approaches to interventions to produce valid, reliable, and cost-effective results. While these goals are desirable, caution must be taken to avoid the multiple problems and Criticisms levelled at TB research and practice in nonsport settings (DeMeusc & Liebowitz 1981). Before problems occur in sport research, investigators need to recognize and learn from past errors. The objective of this paper is to summarize characteristic research problems, give examples of research on TB in sport that have made a new beginning, and suggest types of research conducted by both the scientist and the practitioner. Practitioners need to evaluate TB program effectiveness in order to distinguish between team building of different types, indifferent situations, and of differing levels of quality. While the TB research definition for sport psychology emphasizes the scientific process, this requirement does not restrict the scientist-practitioner. The entire spectrum of intra to interteam behavior can be addressed from the controlled experiment or single group design to program development or evaluation research. Examples of other factors such as various TB models, design issues, and the coach as the agent of change are discussed to reflect the potential opportunities for improving TB research and TB program evaluation in sport.