Improving Our Sport Psychology Research: What Can Be Done?

Although criticism of the quality and methods of sport psychology research is not new, a flourishing academic debate has recently evolved regarding its quality. The purpose of this current presentation is to provide a brief and updated literature review of the contemporary debate about sport psychology research. Based on this brief review three possible ways to improve our sport psychology research among professional athletes are suggested. The first way is to move toward a higher differentiation of athletic populations. Despite the initial focus on high-level competitive athletes, many studies have been conducted with convenience samples of non-athletes/college students or with mixed populations of different competitive athletic levels. It is likely that exploring those populations separately will increase our research validity. A second method is to adopt a holistic perspective of athletes’ functioning. Currently, the majority of studies among professional athletes are performance-related. If we use a holistic perspective of the stress process and human functioning when exploring athletes` stressors in and outside of athletic life, it could enhance our understanding of both athletic performance, psychological functioning and well-being. A third way is to explore intra-individual changes of professional athletes. Shifting the focus from differences between athletes, to differences within athletes offers the possibility to explore individuals in depth rather than superficially exploring large groups. This line of research will advance our understanding of what enables a particular athlete to thrive, in addition to why some athletes thrive more than others. The present review briefly follows the debate about sport psychology research designs and suggests what can be done to improve our research practice.