CPSS Applied Research Methods 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which research design is best suited to studying the long-term effects of youth sport specialization on adult injury rates?
- Randomized controlled trial
- Cross-sectional survey
- Prospective longitudinal cohort study (Correct answer)
- Single-subject A-B-A design
Correct answer: Prospective longitudinal cohort study
A prospective longitudinal cohort study follows participants over time, making it ideal for examining how early exposures relate to long-term outcomes.
Question 2: When a questionnaire consistently measures stress but does not actually capture recovery status, which psychometric issue is present?
- Poor reliability
- Low construct validity (Correct answer)
- Insufficient content validity
- Inadequate test-retest stability
Correct answer: Low construct validity
The questionnaire is reliable (consistent) but lacks construct validity because it does not measure the intended theoretical construct (recovery).
Question 3: A practical significance threshold expressed as a proportion of the population standard deviation is best described as:
- P-value
- Minimal detectable change
- Standardized effect size (Correct answer)
- Confidence interval width
Correct answer: Standardized effect size
Standardized effect sizes (e.g., Cohen's d) express differences in units of the standard deviation, enabling practical interpretation independent of measurement scale.
Question 4: In a between-subjects ANOVA, which post-hoc test is most appropriate when group sample sizes are unequal?
- Tukey's HSD
- Bonferroni correction
- Games-Howell test (Correct answer)
- Fisher's LSD
Correct answer: Games-Howell test
The Games-Howell test does not assume equal variances or equal sample sizes, making it the preferred post-hoc test for unbalanced designs.
Question 5: A CPSS practitioner asks athletes to self-report session RPE 30 minutes after each training session. Which construct validity concern is most relevant?
- The scale has too few response options
- Recall bias may distort the accuracy of RPE reports (Correct answer)
- RPE cannot be used with team sport athletes
- The 30-minute delay increases test-retest reliability
Correct answer: Recall bias may distort the accuracy of RPE reports
Delayed RPE collection introduces recall bias, as athletes' memory of perceived exertion may be influenced by subsequent recovery or reflection.
Question 6: Which approach to handling missing data is generally superior to mean substitution in sport science research?
- Listwise deletion of all incomplete cases
- Replacing missing values with the group mean
- Multiple imputation (Correct answer)
- Removing the variable entirely
Correct answer: Multiple imputation
Multiple imputation creates several plausible datasets based on observed relationships between variables, preserving statistical power and reducing bias better than mean substitution.
Question 7: According to the Declaration of Helsinki, which ethical principle requires that potential research participants receive adequate information before agreeing to participate?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Informed consent (Correct answer)
- Anonymity
Correct answer: Informed consent
Informed consent requires that participants receive and understand information about the study's purpose, procedures, risks, and benefits before voluntarily agreeing to participate.
CPSS Applied Research Methods 5
Which research design is best suited to studying the long-term effects of youth sport specialization on adult injury rates?