Date of Graduation

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of knowledge of results (KR) compared to KR-with-goal-setting on selected tennis skills with three female collegiate tennis players over the course of a competitive season. A goal-setting program was designed using the goal attainment scaling procedure (Smith, 1988), where participants generated numerical targets for their chosen components. A multiple-baseline, single-subject design across behaviors replicated across participants was employed. Data were examined by way of change in mean, level, and trend between baseline and first intervention (KR), baseline and second intervention (KR-with-goal-setting), and first and second intervention. All three participants provided with KR increased their mean percentage scores across target skiffs compared to baseline. However, support for the central hypothesis that KR with goal setting would enhance performance over KR was not consistent. The final KR-with-goal-setting intervention was administered to two of the three participants. The third Participant was unable to complete the study due to injury. The findings suggest that the use of KR alone accounted for greater magnitude of change for each skill than did KR-with-goal-setting. Social validation questionnaire results indicated that participants believed that both KR and KR with-goal setting facilitated their performance. The need for further research and suggestions in this area was discussed.

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