Yarrow Kielan
Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Prog Brain Res. 2017;232:141-144. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2016.11.008. Epub 2017 Jan 22.
Hardy et al. present a qualitative interview study to identify differences between elite and super-elite athletes, but their approach closely parallels the case-control methodology developed and discussed primarily within the epidemiological literature. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach may be less familiar to a psychological or sports-science audience. Here, I comment on this methodological choice and the implications it has for the robustness and value of the inferences that are drawn. I conclude that while Hardy et al. have made valuable progress in dissecting the factors that generate elite athletic performance, their work is best considered as exploratory, and would benefit greatly from confirmation via a prospective cohort approach.
哈迪等人开展了一项定性访谈研究，以确定精英运动员和超级精英运动员之间的差异，但其方法与主要在流行病学文献中发展和讨论的病例对照方法极为相似。心理学或体育科学领域的受众可能对这种方法的优缺点不太熟悉。在此，我对这一方法选择及其对所做推论的稳健性和价值的影响进行评论。我得出的结论是，虽然哈迪等人在剖析产生精英运动表现的因素方面取得了有价值的进展，但他们的工作最好被视为探索性的，若通过前瞻性队列研究方法进行验证将受益匪浅。
