School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Eur J Sport Sci. 2024 Oct;24(10):1442-1451. doi: 10.1002/ejsc.12198. Epub 2024 Sep 17.
Sport science practitioners utilise findings from peer reviewed research to inform practice. Fewer studies are conducted with high performance athletes, however, than those involving recreationally active participants. Noting that research findings from recreational athletes may not be generalisable to the elite, there is a need to engage the latter cohort in research with better potential to influence health and performance. This study identified methods used to engage and recruit highly trained, elite and world class athletes as research participants. A document analysis was conducted using a purposive sample of peer-reviewed sport science literature. All articles published in 2022 from 18 highly ranked sport science journals were screened for inclusion. Studies investigating athletes ranked as highly trained/national level or above were included. All details related to participant recruitment were extracted from included articles, with the content being coded and thematically analysed using an interpretivist approach. A total of 439 studies from the 2356 screened were included in the analysis. Five primary themes of recruitment strategies were identified, beneath an overarching strategy of purposeful, convenience sampling. Recruitment themes related to the use of a gatekeeper, the research environment providing convenient access to athletes, promoting the study electronically, utilising professional networks and recruiting at training or competition. Engaging athletes through a gatekeeper is a prominent strategy to involve elite athletes in research. It is suggested that researchers work collaboratively with team or organisation personnel to promote recruitment, creating co-designed approaches that address issues most relevant to athletes and staff.
运动科学从业者利用同行评审研究的结果为实践提供信息。然而，与涉及休闲活动参与者的研究相比，针对高性能运动员的研究较少。由于注意到从休闲运动员那里获得的研究结果可能不适用于精英运动员，因此有必要让后者参与更有可能影响健康和表现的研究。本研究确定了用于吸引和招募高技能、精英和世界级运动员作为研究参与者的方法。使用目的抽样对同行评议的运动科学文献进行了文献分析。对 18 种排名较高的运动科学期刊中 2022 年发表的所有文章进行筛选，以确定是否纳入。纳入的研究调查了被评为高度训练/国家级或以上的运动员。从纳入的文章中提取了所有与参与者招募相关的详细信息，使用解释主义方法对内容进行编码和主题分析。在筛选出的 2356 项研究中，共有 439 项研究被纳入分析。确定了 5 个主要的招募策略主题，这些主题都基于有目的、便利抽样的总体策略。招募主题涉及使用守门员、为运动员提供便利进入的研究环境、通过电子方式推广研究、利用专业网络以及在训练或比赛中招募。通过守门员吸引运动员是让精英运动员参与研究的一项突出策略。研究人员建议与团队或组织人员合作，促进招募，制定共同设计的方法，解决对运动员和工作人员最相关的问题。
