Coaching Research in Europe Julian North Head of Research sports coach UK, UK
Overview Methodology Scale of Research Activity Research Disciplines Research Methodologies Research Themes Place of Research Activity Research Funding Publication Outlets Future Research Directions
Methodology Primary research - and online survey Secondary research -France – Cloes et al. (2008) -UK – sports coach UK ‘Coaching Research Database’ Expert knowledge
Response
Scale of Research Activity A coaching research tradition in most countries Scale of activity varies significantly by country UK, Germany and France most active… Estimate – c250 articles Coaching research still a minor area, but growing
Source: sports coach UK, Coaching Research Database
Research Disciplines
Research Methodologies
Research Themes
Examples Germany -Occupational Areas of Coaches (Digel et al. – 2008) France -Practical Knowledge in Expert Coaches (Saury and Durand, 1998) UK -Coaching Process in Practice: Models ‘For’ and ‘Of (Cushion et al., 2006)
Key Contributors in UK Andy Abrahams – psychology – coaching is ‘cognitive’ Chris Cushion – sociology – coaches are ‘inventive practitioners’ John Lyle – interdisciplinary/’coaching pragmatic’ – modelling coaching Kathy Armour – sociology/pedagogy – coach as a pedagogue Robyn Jones – sociology/pedagogy – coach as educator/orchestrator Sophia Jowett – psychology – coach-athlete relationships
Trends Movement in philosophy, discipline and method -Positivist to constructivist -Psychology to sociology -Quantitative to qualitative A coaching research dialectic? -Modernism to postmodernism? -But, what next?
Place of Research Activity
Research Funding
Publication Outlets Data quality poor -Academic journals -Coaching magazines Two notable journals: -International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching (UK) -International Journal of Coaching Science (US/ICCE)
Future Research Directions
Conclusions Coaching research a minor activity, but growing Coverage of main disciplines, methods and themes A wide range of research providers, funding streams, and publication outlets… But … significant variation by country A healthy research programme moving forward – but philosophical, methodological and discipline issues to discuss…