Research Paper On Research Analysis

Introduction

The purpose of the study that was carried out by Jamber & Zhang., (1997) was to examine and determine the possible differences in the leadership behaviors between the female and male coaches in different coaching levels with the use of the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS). Jamber & Zhang submitted two hypotheses. The first hypothesis indicated that the female and male coaches would have different responses in the general leadership differences on the RLSS. The second hypothesis stated that these differences on the RLSS would occur among the junior high, high school and college coaching levels.

Research Methods

The ecological generalizability of the study was high and the surveys were mailed out to the participants on a volunteer basis. As a result of the non-random nature of the sampling, the results did not generalize beyond the 162 participants in the study and therefore there was no effect size listed in the research. Internal validity threats were reduced by asking the participants to respond in confidentiality and honesty to help the coaches who were the participants respond with no due pressure and to feel at ease.

Data Collection

Sampling was nonrandom and included 162 coaches who were chosen on a volunteer basis. Male coaches in the sample were 118 (0.73) as the other 44 (0.27) were female. 
In terms to their different coaching levels, junior high coaches were represented by 25 (0.15), high school coaches by 99 (0.61) and the college level coaches at 38 (0.24).

Research Scale

The instrument Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS) that was developed by Zhang, Mann and Jensen in 1996 was utilized. It is a scale used for measuring six types of leadership behaviors that include democratic, training and instruction, autocratic, positive feedback, social support and situational consideration (Seunghyun, 2008).
The RLSS scale is composed of 60 statements that were all preceded by the words “In coaching, I:” The Likert scale for each statement had the following variants 1 to represent never, 2 for seldom, 3 for occasionally, 4 for often and finally 5 for always. An ordinal level data set was therefore produced. Data collection was administered in a range of different environmental settings that included the gymnasiums, classrooms, offices and practice fields. 
The internal consistency for each of the sections were calculated with the result of 0.84 for training and instruction, 0.70 for autocratic, 0.66 for democratic, 0.52 for social support, 0.69 for situational consideration and 0.78 for positive feedback. 
Since the scales were given in a variety of settings the researchers were able to acquire honest answers from the coaches who were more at ease in a familiar environment and hence maintain the internal validity of the research. Other background factors that were considered by the researchers to maintain internal consistency included consideration on the coaching experience of all the participants as well as the gender of the athletes under tutelage from the coaches. This is because the coaches of female athletes especially those of junior high and high schools have a higher probability of demonstrating a high level social support as compared to those of male athletes. The nature of the sport was also given due consideration by the researchers since there are certain coaching styles that are more applicable for specific sports like track, wrestling and tennis than for soccer, football and basketball that are team sports. The population and the socio-economic status of the school was also one of the background variables that were furthermore highlighted in the research since some certain schools have better programs and athlete in specific sports as others may have a team unable to win in a certain field.

Data Analysis

A MANOVA was in the data analysis for the differences between female and male coaches with regards to their leadership behaviors. Analysis indicated that there was little difference between male and female coaches in terms of their overall leadership behaviors. On a keen examination on all the leadership styles however, there were significant differences on the social support between the females and the males. Generally the females scored higher as compared to the male coaches.
A MANOVA was also used in the examination of the data for differences between the three coaching levels that were junior high, high school and college in the context of their general leadership behavior. From the results, it was observed that there were significant differences between the three coaching levels. An ANOVA was used when breaking the six behaviors were broken down separately and individually examining them. The three levels of coaching had varied goals on three of the six behaviors which were training and instruction, democratic behaviors and social support.

Results

It was observed that the high school coaches had higher scores than the college level coaches in democratic leadership behavior. The junior high coaches on the other hand were significantly lower in terms of their training and instruction as compared to either the high school or college coaches. The junior high coaches similarly demonstrated a lesser degree of possessing the social support leadership behavior than either the college or the high school coaches.
Finally, a MANOVA was utilized again in the data analysis for the presence of any interaction between the coaching level and gender with regards to the overall leadership behavior. Results indicated no significant interactions. 
Conclusion

References

Jamber, E. A., & Zhang, J .J. (1997).  Investigating leadership, gender, and coaching level using
the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale. Journal of Sport Behavior. 20: 313-322.
Seunghyun, H. (2008). The Predictive Strength of Emotional Intelligence on Coaching Efficacy
and Leadership Style of High School Basketball Head Coaches. Michigan State University: New York.