THE USE OF THINK ALOUD METHOD TO INVESTIGATE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES OF WOMEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS JUDGES
type: CreativeWork
description: Decision-making of officials in aesthetic sports and more specifically in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) has received some attention within the sport psychology literature. However, research conducted has mainly utilised post-competition scores and has adapted retrospective methods of data collection to investigate judges’ thoughts and decision-making during judging. Think Aloud (TA) method (Eccles & Arsal, 2017) proposed by Ericsson and Simon (1993) is a tool to collect concurrent data of cognitive processes, and therefore could be an alternative method to collect judge decision concurrently. As a result, this thesis aimed to investigate the robustness of a novel TA method in collecting thought processes of WAG judges and to explore the decision-making differences between expert and novice judges. There were three studies included in this thesis. Study One was conducted in Malaysia 2016 utilising the Code of Points (COP) 2012-2016, whereas Study Two and Study Three were conducted simultaneously in the United Kingdom from 2017-2018 utilising the updated COP 2017-2020. Study One Study One aimed to explore the decision-making underpinning judging processes by using both concurrent and immediate retrospective methods. This examined the utilisation of TA method as a training tool to develop Malaysia based WAG judge education. Ten qualified national judges were required to verbalise their thought processes in applying execution deductions and artistry deductions by using Level 2 TA when judging a fix-sequenced video clip consists of ten routines on a singular apparatus, i.e. Balance Beam. Immediate follow-up interviews were conducted to investigate the judge’s perceptions of using TA method whilst judging. Data collected in the TA sessions and follow-up interviews underwent thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2014). During the judging process, participants verbally reported most frequently on lack of balance, bending of arms and knees, pointing of feet, confidence, rhy…
abstract: Decision-making of officials in aesthetic sports and more specifically in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) has received some attention within the sport psychology literature. However, research conducted has mainly utilised post-competition scores and has adapted retrospective methods of data collection to investigate judges’ thoughts and decision-making during judging. Think Aloud (TA) method (Eccles & Arsal, 2017) proposed by Ericsson and Simon (1993) is a tool to collect concurrent data of cognitive processes, and therefore could be an alternative method to collect judge decision concurrently. As a result, this thesis aimed to investigate the robustness of a novel TA method in collecting thought processes of WAG judges and to explore the decision-making differences between expert and novice judges. There were three studies included in this thesis. Study One was conducted in Malaysia 2016 utilising the Code of Points (COP) 2012-2016, whereas Study Two and Study Three were conducted simultaneously in the United Kingdom from 2017-2018 utilising the updated COP 2017-2020. Study One Study One aimed to explore the decision-making underpinning judging processes by using both concurrent and immediate retrospective methods. This examined the utilisation of TA method as a training tool to develop Malaysia based WAG judge education. Ten qualified national judges were required to verbalise their thought processes in applying execution deductions and artistry deductions by using Level 2 TA when judging a fix-sequenced video clip consists of ten routines on a singular apparatus, i.e. Balance Beam. Immediate follow-up interviews were conducted to investigate the judge’s perceptions of using TA method whilst judging. Data collected in the TA sessions and follow-up interviews underwent thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2014). During the judging process, participants verbally reported most frequently on lack of balance, bending of arms and knees, pointing of feet, confidence, rhy…
author: Lee, J
keywords: BF Psychology, GV561 Sports
date published: 2020-02
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:30:31Z
provider: Liverpool Jon Moores University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Liverpool John Moores University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.24377/LJMU.t.00012162