Examination of the suitability of collecting in event cognitive processes using Think Aloud protocol

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by  Amy E. Whitehead

LJMU Research Online
Whitehead, AE, Taylor, JA and Polman, R
Examination of the suitability of collecting in event cognitive processes using
Think Aloud protocol in golf.
http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/1637/
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Whitehead, AE, Taylor, JA and Polman, R (2015) Examination of the
suitability of collecting in event cognitive processes using Think Aloud
protocol in golf. Frontiers in Psychology, 6 (1083). ISSN 1664-1078
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ORIGINALRESEARCH
published:28July2015
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01083
Examination of the suitability of
collecting in event cognitive
processes using Think Aloud
protocol in golf
AmyE.Whitehead1*,JamieA.Taylor2andRemcoC.J.Polman3,4
1SchoolofEducation,LeisureandSportsStudies,LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity,Liverpool,UK,2SchoolofPsychology,
UniversityofCentralLancashire,Preston,UK,3CentreforBehaviouralChange,PsychologyDepartment,Bournemouth
University,Bournemouth,UK,4InstituteofSport,ExerciseandActiveLiving,VictoriaUniversity,Melbourne,VIC,Australia
Two studies examined the use of Think Aloud (TA) protocol as a means for collecting
data of cognitive processes during performance in golf. In Study 1, TA was employed
to examine if different verbalisation (Level 2 or Level 3 TA) instructions influence
performanceofhighandlowskilledgolfers.Participantsperformed30puttsusingTAat
eitherLevels2,3,ornoverbalizationcondition.AlthoughLevel3verbalizationproduced
Editedby:
MarkR.Wilson, a higher volume of verbal data than Level 2, TA at either Level 2 or 3 did not impair
UniversityofExeter,UK putting performance compared to no verbalization. Study 2 examined the congruence
Reviewedby:
between data collected via TA at Level 3 and cued retrospective recall of cognitive
SamuelJamesVine,
processes during golf performance. Experienced golfers performed six holes of golf
UniversityofExeter,UK
AndréKlostermann, whilst engaging in Level 3 TA. After performance, three semi-structured retrospective
UniversityofBern,Switzerland
interviews were conducted (10 min after performance, 24 h after performance and
*Correspondence:
48 h after performance). A comparison of the themes identified large discrepancies
AmyE.Whitehead,
SchoolofEducation,Leisure betweentheinformationreportedduringTAandatinterview,withonly38–41%similarity
andSportsStudies,LiverpoolJohn in variables reported to influence decision making on each hole. Both studies suggest
MooresUniversity,IMMarsh,Barkhill
TA is a valuable method for recording cognitive processes of individuals during task
Road,MossleyHill,Aigburth,
Liverpool,MerseysideL176BD,UK performance.TAprovidesricherverbaldataregardingdecisionsthancuedretrospective
[email protected]
recall,andTAdoesnotnegativelyimpactperformance.
Specialtysection:
Keywords: Think Aloud, verbal protocol, motor task, golf, cognitive processes, retrospective recall,
Thisarticlewassubmittedto
verbalizations,methodologyinpsychologicalresearch
MovementScienceandSport
Psychology,
asectionofthejournal Introduction
FrontiersinPsychology
Received:16March2015 Within the sport psychology literature there is a growing interest in athlete cognitions and
Accepted:14July2015 how these cognitions underpin behavior (Eccles, 2012). As a result it is important to carefully
Published:28July2015 consider methodologies which are appropriate for collecting this type of data. Ericsson and
Citation: Simon(1993)introduced the‘ThinkAloud(TA)’method,whichinvolvedaskingparticipants to
WhiteheadAE,TaylorJA continuously‘TA’andreporttheirthoughtsduringtheperformanceofatask.EricssonandSimon
andPolmanRCJ(2015)Examination (1993)emphasizedtheimportance ofTAincomparison toothermethods,suchasretrospective
ofthesuitabilityofcollectinginevent
recall, due to vital information that may be lost when retrospective reports are used. TA has
cognitiveprocessesusingThink
been used frequently in research to investigate decision making in chess (Gobet and Charness,
Aloudprotocolingolf.
2006),medicine(Ericsson,2004,2007),nursing(AitkenandMardegan,2000),Scrabble(Tuffiash
Front.Psychol.6:1083.
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01083 et al., 2007), and algebra tasks (Cook, 2006). However, there is very little research that has
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 1 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
usedTA for collecting cognitive processesand decision making of a task can be undone or disrupted if a performer tries to
insportstasks. controlataskoractionconsciouslywithdeclarativeknowledge.
Three types of verbal report protocols have been identified Fitts and Posner’s (1967) framework of skill learning is part
(Ericsson and Simon, 1993). Level1 verbalization is simply the of the reinvestment theory framework. Learning progresses
vocalizationofinnerspeechwheretheindividualdoesnotneed from the declarative, cognitive stage where the performance is
to make any effort to communicate his or her thoughts. Level cognitively controlled in a step-by-step manner, when learning
2verbalizationinvolvestheverbalencodingandvocalization of progressesperformancebecomesmoreproceduralandautomatic
an internal representation that is not originally in verbal code. which requires little cognitive attention. In the early stages
For example,verbal encoding and vocalization of scents, visual of learning there are rules which the performer cognitively
stimuli, or movement.With this levelof verbalization, only the attends to whereas later in the learning process this becomes
information thatisin the participants focus is tobe verbalized. automatic and the cognitive load changes. Masters (1992)
Level 3 verbalization requires the individual to explain his or proposedtheprogressionregressionhypothesisorreinvestment
herthoughts,ideas,hypotheses,ormotives(EricssonandSimon, where high level performance can regress to early stages of
1993), for example explaining why a certain shot or club is skill development in which the execution are more reliant on
selectedingolf. verbalcuesandexplicitdeclarativeknowledge(FittsandPosner,
Within the current sport literature TA has been used to 1967; Anderson, 1982). According to Masters (1992) during
collect data around appraisals and coping in trap shooting progression- regression, a disruption in performance occurs
(Calmeiro et al., 2010) and golf (Nicholls and Polman, 2008), when an ‘integrated’ real time control structure that can run
gender differences in stress, appraisal, and coping in golf asanuninterrupted (for example,aprofessional golfers driving
putting (Kaiseler et al., 2012) and expert novice differences off the tee) unit is broken down back into smaller, separate
planning strategies in tennis, (McPherson, 2000; McPherson independent units, similar to how it was originally attended to
and Kernodle, 2007). More recently, Calmeiroand Tenenbaum in a step-by-step fashion during the early stages of learning.
(2011) used TA at Level 2 to investigate differences in This in turn slows down performance as each component is
the cognitions of experienced and novice golfers during a run separately instead of all together; as a result there is a
putting task. Through the use of TA the authors were able gap in each unit which creates more room for error, which
to conclude findings such as experienced golfers spent more would not be present in the integrated autonomous structure
time than beginners assessing the conditions and planning (Masters, 1992; Beilock and Carr, 2001). Therefore, it could be
and experienced players verbalized more diagnostic-related argued that by asking a performer who is in the later stages
thoughts after the putt and followed these thoughts with of skill development to verbalize their thought process during
planning the next putt. Novice golfers focussed more on performanceofamotorskillcouldresultintheirskillbreakdown.
the technical aspect of the putt. Whilst this study provides In comparison, Beilock et al. (2002) found that novice or less
an important insight into skill level differences in cognitive proficient performers benefittedfrom attentionalmonitoring of
processes of golfers, the very small sample size (3 per step-by-stepperformance.
condition) limits the generalizability of findings. Calmeiro and Asa resultof the potentiallimitations previously mentioned
Tenenbaum (2011) therefore provided a recommendation that to date the majority of research has opted to use retrospective
further research needs to identify whether TA interferes with methods to gain insights into thoughts and actions that occur
performance. duringsportperformance.Forexample,Macquet(2009)studied
It has been argued that instructing participants to TA may expertvolleyballplayersandtheirdecisionmakingprocessusing
interfere with thought processes and negatively impact on self-confrontational interviews, which were conducted between
task performance (Klatzky, 1984), particularly TA at Level 3 the 2nd and 5th day following a volleyball match. In addition,
(EricssonandSimon,1993).Arecentmeta-analysisbyFoxetal. Mulliganetal.(2012)usedretrospectiveinterviews,promptedby
(2011)comparedperformanceontasksthatinvolvedconcurrent videorecordings,toinvestigatethedecisionqualityinice-hockey.
verbal reporting conditions with their matching silent control However, cued retrospective recall of events has a number of
conditions.Theyfoundthatinstructingparticipantstoverbalize important limitations. One issue that has been shown to affect
theirthoughts duringataskdidnotalterperformance,whereas reportingaccuracyismemorydecay(EricssonandSimon,1980;
directingparticipantstoprovideexplanationsfortheirthoughts NichollsandPolman,2008).Inaddition,retrospectivereportsare
actuallyimprovedperformance.Inthemeta-analysisbyFoxetal. also distorted by knowledge about success of efforts to resolve
(2011) the majority of tasks were cognitive in nature. To our stressfulevents(BrownandHarris,1978).Thiscanalsobelinked
knowledge no previous studies have examined the influence of to the issue of bias as Bahrick et al. (1996) found that recall of
TA protocol on motor performance. If TA is to be used more student’shighschoolgradeswasinfluencedbytheattractiveness
widelytoexaminecognitioninsportsitisimportanttoestablish of the grade received. Researchers found that the grade A was
iftheTAmethodologyinterfereswithperformanceonsporttasks recalled accurately 89% of the time but the grade D was only
(CalmeiroandTenenbaum,2011). recalled29%ofthetime.
Itisalsoimportanttoconsiderfactorswhichmightpotentially Tenenbaum and Elran (2003) examined the congruence
moderatetheuseofTAonmotorperformance.Onesuchfactor between actual and retrospective reports for pre- and post-
is the skill level of the participants. Masters (1992) proposed competition emotional states; that were collected 1 h before
thetheoryofreinvestmentwhichsuggeststhattheautomisation the event, 30 min after the event and 72 h after the event
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 2 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
using a questionnaire. The results revealed that retrospective Fox et al. (2011) found that asking participants to verbalize
reports were not affected by the pre–post interference after a the task did not impair performance, and when elaborating on
72 h delay. However, athletes underestimated the intensity of the task improvements were found. Study 1 aimsto investigate
post competition unpleasant emotions. In addition, thoughts if the use of TA impacts motor performance, by comparing
and feelings that were openly expressed after 72 h were not experiencedandnovicegolfersputtingperformancewhenusing
fullycongruentwiththoughtsandfeelingsreportedinrealtime. eitherLevel2TA,Level3TA,or noverbalization. Asliterature
Tenenbaum et al. (2002) also highlighted concerns of whether suggestsLevel2verbalizationdoesnothaveanegativeeffecton
retrospective reports signify the athlete’s schematic knowledge performance (Ericsson and Simon, 1993; Fox et al., 2011), but
of how they generally feel before and after a competition. Level 3 verbalization may affect performance it was predicted
Retrospective measures might be tapping ‘a general schema’ or that (a) participants in the Level 2 verbalization condition
overlearnedsetofemotionsratherthantheparticularemotions would perform as well as participants in the control condition
experienced before an event. Eccles (2012) argues that during and (b) that skilled participants in the Level 3 verbalization
retrospective reports participants might be aware of general condition would perform worse than both the control and
strategies and recall and report strategies directly and without Level 2 verbalization conditions and novice participants would
preferencetospecificbehaviortheyproduced. perform better in the Level 3 verbalization condition than in
Theaimsofthecurrentstudiesweremainlymethodologicalin both the control and Level 2 verbalization conditions. Finally,
nature.BasedonthepreviouscritiquesthatTAhasencountered thecontentoftheverbalizationswasanalyzedtoensuretheTA
around interference with performance we first wanted to was carried out according to instructions. Hence, we expected
establishtheutilityoftheTAmethodologyinthedomainofsport that Level3 verbalization would result in qualitatively different
ingeneralandgolfinparticularbyexaminingwhethertheuseof information as well as quantitatively more information. In
TAatLevel2or3influenced motorperformance (golfputting) addition, the qualitative analysis of the TA data was conducted
and the potential moderating effects of skill level.Wetherefore toprovideevidenceofpossiblemoderatingeffectsofskilllevelon
examinedhowdifferentlevelsofTAinfluenceactualperformance performance.
and information provided by different skill level performers.
Hence,basedonreinvestmenttheorydifferencesinperformance Methods
and verbalisations based on skill level could be expected when Participants
usingTAinsport. Skilledparticipantswerethirtymalegolfers(age:M=16.9years,
Secondly, we examined the congruence between TA and the s = 0.82; handicap: M = 5.3, s = 1.51) who attended a further
morecommonlyusedretrospectiverecallmethodology. educationcollegeintheNorthofEngland.Skilledgolfersplayed
aminimumofonceperweekandanaverageof8.5yearsplaying
experience. Novice participants were 18 males and 12 females
Study 1 (age: M = 21.8 years, s = 1.42) who were university students.
Noviceparticipants reportedtheydidnotplaygolfonaregular
The first study’s primary aim was to examine whether TA basis and none had played golf in the month prior to testing.
influencesmotorperformanceandthepotentialmediatingeffects Institutionalethicalapprovalwassecuredandinformedconsent
of skill level. Thinking aloud involves continuous reporting of wasobtainedfromallparticipants.
conscious thoughts during theperformance ofatask.Engaging
in TA may promote a self-focus of attention as a performer Apparatus
verbalizestheirthoughtsanddecisions.Masters(1992)suggests Novice golfers all used the same right-handed putter, whereas
that the automatisation of a task can be undone or disrupted skilledgolfersusedtheirownputters.Theputtingsurfacewasan
if a performer tries to consciously attend to a task. In terms of AstroTurfartificialindoorputtinggreen.Theputtingholewasa
a motor skill, it can be argued that the level of skill that the standardsize(0.108mdiameter).Thirtyofthesamebrandgolf
performer possessescould alsorelate to the effect thatthinking balls were usedthroughout the testing.A digital voice recorder
aloudhasonperformance.Hence,forskilledperformers,which was used with a small microphone attached to the participant’s
areassumedtobeintheautomaticphaseofskilllearning(Fitts collar, and a wire placed inside the shirt connecting to the
andPosner,1967),itcouldbesuggestedthatfocussingattention recordingdevicewhichwasputinthetrouserpocket.
on the skill itself degrades performance (Schmidt, 1982) and
Procedures
reinvestment could occur (Masters et al., 1993). It has been
proposedthatperformersintheautomaticphaseofskilllearning Priortoconducting theexperimentalprocedure allparticipants
willexecutetheskillinanopen-loopfashionwherethereislittle tookpartinapre-testofputting10ballsfroma2.50mdistance,
conscious control and processing required. Whereas a novice whichactedtomatchtheparticipantsinthedifferentconditions
will be inthe closed loop, feedbackdrivenmode,andattention on ability; by placing an equalability range of participants into
demandingprocessing(SchmidtandWrisberg,2000).Therefore, thethreeconditions(Level2verbalization,Level3verbalization,
more experienced golfers may experience more disruption in no verbalization control) based on the result out of 10 putts.
performance if they engage in TA in comparison to novices Participants then performed a further 30 putts from a distance
due to TA causing the more experienced golfer to attend to of3monanindoorputtinggreen.Instructions forthetwoTA
their performance in a more step-by-step fashion. However, protocolswereadaptedtogolfputtingbasedupontheguidelines
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 3 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
setoutbyEricssonandSimon(1993)andNichollsandPolman analysisbythefirstauthortoidentifystatementswhichrelatedto
(2008). Participants in the Level 2 verbalization group were thecognitiveprocessofeachshotplayed.Individualelementsof
instructed to say out loud what they were thinking at all times ‘meaningfulinformation’wereconsideredandcoded.Similarto
before and after the execution of the putt. Participants in the NichollsandPolman(2008)theverbalizationsbytheparticipants
Level 3 condition were given the same instructions, however, that were coded were relevant to the task, which in this case
they were also asked to describe and explain their thoughts, meant verbalizations associated with golf performance. Data
providing explanations for their actions. Participants in both whichwerenotrelevanttothetask,suchasverbalizationsabout
conditions wereinstructed toTAthroughout the30puttsapart what an individual had eaten last night, a loved one, and their
from when they were executing the putt. It is important to favoritefootballteam,wereremovedfromthedataset.Unitsof
note that participants were not instructed to verbalize during information were coded according to categories derivedfrom a
putt execution to reduce any sort of interference with motor modified version of Calmeiro and Tenenbaum’s (2011) coding
movement (Schmidt and Wrisberg, 2000). If participants were scheme(seeTable1).Thiscodingschemewasusedandadapted
silent for a period of longer than 10 s they would be asked to as it was one of the only studies to have examined cognition
resume thinking aloud. The third group consisted of a control processes using TA in golf putting previous to this paper. The
groupandperformed30puttsfromthesamedistanceastheother second author independently analyzed a 10% sample of verbal
two groups but without any TA instructions. All participants’ data;theinter-rateragreementwas89%.
scoreswererecorded,andscoreswerebasedonhowmanyputts A2(skill)×2(condition)ANOVAwasconductedtoexplore
holedoutof30putts. the difference in the amount of data (words) produced during
Before the start of the trial, all participants took part in a Levels2and3verbalizationandthetwoabilitylevels.Basedon
series of TA exercises to ensure that they could engage in the the an adaptation of Calmeiro and Tenenbaum (2011) coding
TA protocol adequately at the level that they were assigned to schemetheunitsofinformation thatwerecodedwereanalyzed
(EricssonandSimon,1993).BoththeLevels2and3verbalization using a 2 (skill) × 2 (condition) MANOVA to investigate the
groupscompletedthreetasks:(1)countingthenumberofdotson difference in the total frequency ofthemesthatwere verbalized
apage,(2)anarithmeticexercise,and(3)ananagramproblem- during Levels 2 and 3 verbalization for both experienced and
solvingtask.ParticipantsintheLevel2condition wereaskedto novice golfers. Significant multivariate effects were followed up
completethetasksaloudwithoutexplaininghowtheydidthem withunivariateANOVAandindependentt-testswithBonferroni
whereasLevel3participantswereaskedtoalsoexplainhowthey correction.
completed the exercise.Participants tookpartintheseexercises
until they had grasped the TA process; which took no longer Results
than30min.Thisexercisetookpartinmeetingroominaclose Performance
proximitytotheputtinggreen. The first 2 (skill) × 3 (condition) ANOVA examined pre-test
performance (number of successful puts out of 10 attempts).
Analysis
As expected there was a significant main effect for skill
Performanceoutcome [F(1,54) = 10.73, p = 0.002, η2 = 0.17] with skilled players
p
A2(skill)×3(condition)analysisofvariancewasconductedto (M=4.83,SD=2.23)outperformingnoviceplayers(M=3.03,
exploreifthereweredifferencesinpre-testputtingperformance SD = 1.87), however, there was no significant main effect for
(number of putts holed) between the three groups. To analyze condition[F(2,54)=0.05,p=0.953,η2 =0.002]orinteraction
p
performanceonthemainputtingtaskthenumberofputtsholed between skill and condition [F(2,54) = 0.01, p = 0.989,
outof30wascalculatedforeachparticipant anda2(skill)×3 η2<0.001].Thisfindingimpliesthatpre-testperformanceacross
p
(condition)analysisofvariancewasconducted. conditionswasequivalent.
The second 2 (skill) × 3 (condition) ANOVA analyzed test
Dataanalysisofcontent
performance(numberofsuccessfulputtsoutof30attempts).For
In order to examine whether Levels 2 and 3 verbalization descriptive statistics see Table 2. A significant main effect was
resultedinqualitativelyandquantitativelydifferentinformation found for skill [F(1,54) = 20.76, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.28]. Skilled
p
and whether skill level moderated this effect we transcribed golfers performed better (M = 10.97, SD = 4.82) than novice
verbalizations verbatim. Following checks for relevance and golfers (M = 5.87, SD = 3.96). No significant main effect was
consistencyeachtranscriptwassubjectedtoalinebylinecontent found for condition [F(2,54) = 2.79, p = 0.08, η2 = 0.09] and
p
TABLE1|CodingschemeframeworkadaptedfromCalmeiroandTenenbaum(2011).
Theme Description Exampleofrawdataquote
Gatheringinformation Reflectedparticipants’searchforrelevantcharacteristicsoftheenvironment “There’sabreakleft,”“there’saridgeonthemiddleofthegreen”
Planning Referencetoplanningashot,forexampletargetstoaimfor,powerofputt. “Needtoaimmoreright,”“Ineedtobeabitmorefirm”
Technicalinstruction Specifiedtechnicalaspectsoftheperformance “Armsbent,”“feetareparallel”
Reflection Reflectedonwhathadhappenedintermsofprocessorevaluationoftheputt “Justmissedleft,”“itbrokeattheend,”“yes,goodputt”
Self-encouragement Referstoanypositivewordsrelatingtoself-encouragement. “Youcandothis,”“concentrateonthis”
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 4 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
TABLE2|Meanand(SD)testperformance(successfulputtsoutof30)as [t(18) = 4.51, p < 0.001], but not in the Level 2 condition
afunctionofskillandcondition. [t(18)=1.72,p=0.103].
There was a significant multivariate effect for skill [Wilks’
Skill Control Level2 Level3
λ=0.65,F(5,32)=3.41,p=0.014,η2=0.35]withskilledgolfers
p
Skilled 9.40(3.24) 12.30(4.97) 11.20(5.92) verbalizingmorefrequentlythannovicegolfersaboutgathering
Novice 3.70(3.65) 6.60(3.89) 7.30(3.74) information[F(1,36)=12.24,p=0.001,η2=0.25]andplanning
p
Total 6.55(4.45) 9.45(5.24) 9.25(5.22) shots[F(1,36)=4.56,p=0.04,η2=0.11].
p
There was a significant multivariate effect for condition
[Wilks’ λ = 0.40, F(5,32) = 9.56, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.60], with
there wasnosignificant interactionbetweenskillandcondition p
more verbalization in the Level3 than Level2 condition about
[F(2,54)=0.28,p=0.75,η2=0.01].
p gathering information [F(1,36) = 8.19, p = 0.007, η2 = 0.19],
p
Verbalization Content planning shots [F(1,36) = 6.39, p = 0.016, η2p = 0.15], and
technicalinstruction[F(1,36)=2.43,p=0.011,η2=0.17].
Table 3 presents descriptive statistics for the volume of verbal p
data provided (number of words) during test performance for
theskilledandnovicegolfersintheLevels2and3verbalization Discussion
conditions. A 2 (skill) by 2 (condition) ANOVA showed a The results of Study 1 showed contrary to predictions that
significant condition main effect [F(1,36) = 66.31, p < 0.001, the use of verbalization at either Level 2 or Level 3 did
η2p=0.64].Level3verbalprotocolresultedinsignificantlymore not significantly influence performance across skill level. This
words verbalized (M = 385, SD = 110) compared to Level 2 indicates that Level 3 TA verbalization, requiring explanations
verbal protocol (M = 141, SD = 69). There was no significant of a performers thought processes, is not associated with
main effectfor skill[F(1,36) = 0.01,p = 0.89,η2p < 0.001]nor decreases in motor performance in comparison to Level 2 TA
was there a significant interaction [F(1,36) = 0.03; p = 0.85, verbalization or no-verbalization irrespective of the skill level
η2p=0.001]. of the performer. Examination of mean performance actually
Onceverbaldatawasthematicallyanalyzed,thefrequencyof suggested performance was slightly better in the TA conditions
verbalization of each theme was compared with a 2 (skill) × 2 thancontrol.Fromatheoreticalperspective,reinvestmenttheory
(condition) MANOVA. Table 4 shows descriptive statistics for (Masters,1992)suggeststhat,TAhasthepotentialtonegatively
thefrequencyofverbalizationofeachdatathemefortheskilled influenceperformanceamongskilledperformers.Byinstructing
andnovicegolfersintheLevels2and3verbalizationconditions. golfers to TA their attention could be directed to the step-by-
Therewasasignificantmultivariateinteractionbetweenskill stepmechanicsoftheskillwhichhasbeenassociatedwithpoorer
and condition [Wilks’ λ = 0.46, F(5,32) = 5.15, p = 0.001, performance. In the present study there was no clear evidence
η2p = 0.46], with univariate ANOVA’s indicating an interaction that thinking aloud resulted in skilled performers reinvesting
only for the theme Technical Instruction [F(1,36) = 17.68, in explicit rules. Skilled performers verbalized few technical
p < 0.001, η2p = 0.33]. Independent t-tests with Bonferroni instructions in either the Level 2 or Level 3 TA conditions,
correction indicated novice golfers verbalized more about with the majority of verbalizations focused on planning and
technicalinstructionsthanskilledgolfersintheLevel3condition evaluating shots. This finding suggests TA does not result in
reinvestment and does not lead to performance breakdown.
However, a possible explanation for the converse performance
TABLE3|Meanand(SD)volumeofverbaldataprovided(numberof effect found in the higher skilled group is that the golfers did
words)duringtestperformanceasafunctionofskillandcondition. not dwell on mistakes or technical errors (reminisce/ruminate)
butthatTA helpsthem toactivelyseeksolutions asindexed by
Skill Level2 Level3
greater use of deliberate planning and gathering information.
Skilled 136.70(73.99) 385.30(122.58) Becauseoftheirgreaterknowledgebase,skilledgolfersaremore
Novice 145.90(67.05) 383.80(103.42) likely to use the information and planning to their advantage
Total 141.30(68.88) 384.55(110.38) andenhancetheirperformance (seeGagnéandSmith,1962for
similarresults).Theabsence of reporting ofincreased technical
informationduringTAatLevel3intheskilledgroupmightalso
TABLE4|Meanand(SD)frequencyofverbalizationofeachdatatheme
explainthelackofperformancedecrementsinthisgroup.Hence,
duringtestperformanceasafunctionofskillandcondition.
reinvestmenttheorysuggeststhatitisparticularlythemonitoring
Measure Level2 Level3 orthe actualexecution ofthe motorskillwhich mightresultin
skillbreakdownandperformancedecrements(Masters,1992).
Skilled Novice Skilled Novice
FurtheranalysisofthecontentofthedatarevealedthatLevel
Gatheringinformation 1.00(1.33) 0.00(0.00) 3.00(2.00) 0.70(1.64) 3 verbalization produced a larger amount of verbal data than
Self-encouragement 2.30(2.36) 4.40(3.81) 3.10(3.03) 2.40(1.86) Level2 independent of skill level.In addition, differences were
Planning 10.30(7.46) 7.00(4.00) 15.30(3.43) 11.00(6.56) apparent between Levels 2 and 3 TA and between skilled and
Reflection 10.20(3.73) 15.40(7.47) 16.10(6.34) 16.80(5.12) noviceparticipants.ThissuggeststhatLevels2and3TAresults
Technicalinstruction 4.40(4.79) 1.60(1.89) 2.80(2.89) 8.90(3.14) inqualitativelyandquantitativelydifferentinformationandskill
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 5 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
level also influences the information provided. In particular, performedsixholesofgolfwhilstengaginginLevel3TA.After
skilledgolfersverbalizedmoreaboutgatheringinformationand performance,threesemi-structuredretrospectiveinterviewswere
planning before taking a putt than novices. Whereas novices conducted, 10 min after performance, 24 h after performance,
verbalizedmoreaboutthetechnicalaspectsoftheirperformance and48hafterperformance.Itwaspredictedthatwithincreasing
compared toskilledgolfers,butonlywhenusingTAatLevel3. time there would be less correspondence between verbal data
Similar results were reported by Calmeiro and Tenenbaum captured using TA and retrospective recall. No prediction was
(2011) where beginners focussed on mainly technical aspects madewithregardtothevolumeofinformationprovided.
duringTAandhighlevelgolfersreportedgreateruseofgathering
informationandplanning.Similarly,Beilocketal.(2002)found Methods
that experts made less reference to putting mechanics in their Participants
episodicrecollectionsthannovices.Beilocketal.(2002)proposed Participantsweresixmalegolfers(Mage30.5years,Mhandicap
that a novice’s performance of a skill is based on declarative 5.5,Mplayingyears19),andallmembersofthesamegolfclub.
knowledge that is held in working memory and is attended to The participants were recruited via a sign-up sheet in the club
in a step-by-step fashion (Fitts and Posner, 1967; Anderson, house and all participants were volunteers. Institutional ethical
1983, 1987). Low level golfers are likely to be in the cognitive approvalwassecured and informed consent wasobtained from
phaseoflearning(FittsandPosner,1967)whichischaracterized allparticipants.
by using explicit, technical information to guide skill execution
whereasthehighlevelgolfersaremorelikelyintheautonomous Materials
phase of skill learning. This stage is characterized by the use of Eachgolferplayedwiththeirowngolfclubsonthesamesixholes
implicitknowledge.Therefore,byexaminingthecontentonthe ofthesamegolfcourse.AsinStudy1,participant’sverbalizations
verbalisationscleardifferenceshavebeenidentifiedbetweenthe wererecorded usingaSennheiserUSAENGG3wirelessdigital
levelofTAusedandtheexpertiseoftheperformer. voice recorder. A score card was used to mark the number of
The results of Study 1 showed that, independent of skill shotstakenoneachhole.
level, performance was slightly better in the TA conditions in
Procedure
comparison to the control condition. A possible explanation
for this observation is that TA resulted in the participants Participantswereaskedtomeet1hpriortogolfperformancein
spendingmoretimeplanningandevaluatingtheirperformance. order to be briefed and to take part in a series of TA exercises
Thisinturnmighthaveresultedindevelopingstrategieswhich (see Study 1). Each of the golfers then played six holes of golf
enhancedperformance.Futurestudiesmightexamineadditional accompanied by a researcher. During all six holes, participants
factorswhichmightresultindifferencebetweenTAandcontrol, were asked to describe their thoughts before and after the
includingeye-movementorbehavioralaspects. execution of each shot and provide an explanation for their
To our knowledge this is the first study which has actions (Level 3 TA). Golfers were told that they could engage
demonstrated that TA at Level 3 does not impede motor in TA between holes if they had any thoughts they wished to
performance (Calmeiro and Tenenbaum, 2011) and results in verbalize.Participantswereinstructedto,“ThinkAloudandsay
qualitatively and quantitatively different information than that everythingthatcomesintoyourheadbeforeandaftereachshot
obtained by Level 2 TA. The information provided at Level youtake.EverytimeyouTAcanyoupleaseexplainthisthought.”
3 appears to be richer in detail and skill level moderates the If they were silent for a period of longer than 20 s they were
information obtained at both Levels 2 and 3 TA. However, askedtoresumeTA.Thethoughtswererecordeduntilthegolfers
study one cannot establish whether TA is a more appropriate hadcompletedallsixholes.Eachgolferplayedonthesamegolf
methodology of collecting data on cognitive processes during course with their own golf clubs, although the six holes played
sporting performance compared to other methodologies like werevariedforeachgolfer.
retrospective recall.Wetherefore conducted asecond studythe Following the completion of the six holes each participant
furtherexaminetheutilityofTAmethodology. wasthenaskedtotakepartinthreesemi-structuredinterviews,
the first being approximately 10 min after performance of the
six holes. The second interview was held 24 h and the third
Study 2 48 h after performance. Each interview involved asking semi-
structured questions about the decision making that occurred
Study2wasdesignedtocomparetheTAmethodwiththemore during two separate holes for each interview. The selection of
commonly used retrospective recall. A lot of decision making the holes for retrospective recall were conducted in a random
and cognitive processing research has adopted a retrospective manner.Itisbelievethatrandomselectionprovidesafarbetter
method (Macquet, 2009; Cotterill et al., 2010; Mulligan et al., wayofdoingthisthanselectingholesonanumberofcriteriaof
2012).However,if data canbe collected during performance of whichwedonotknowiftheyhaveaninfluenceornotonwhat
ataskitisthoughtthiswillminimizetheevent-recallperiodand isrecalled.Althoughthereissomesuggestionthatsuccessmight
increasethelikelihoodofcollectingaccuratedata(Folkmanand bebetterremembered,currentlythereislittleevidencethatthere
Moskowitz,2004).Thisstudyaimedtoexaminethecongruence are differences in remembering events which are more or less
between the verbal data generated by golfers when using TA successful in sport. For consistency the same sets of questions
and that generated by retrospective interviews. Participants were asked to each participant, however, participants were free
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 6 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
Similarityofthemes
toanswerinanywaytheywanted.Bothundirectedanddirected
questionswereusedduringinterviews(Eccles,2012).Questions Percentage similarity of first-order themes identified on each
askedduringthesesemistructuredinterviewswere,“pleasecan shot during TA and interview was calculated at each interview
you describe hole...,” “canyou tellme whatyou were thinking time point. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was then
about during your first shot?,” “Whatkind ofshot didyou play conducted to determine any significant differences in the
and why?,” “what club did you use and why?,” “were there any percentagesimilaritybetweenTAandinterviewacrossthethree
environmental factors that affected your shot?” Each interview interviewtimepoints.
wasconducted atthesametimeofdayandtookapproximately
20 min to complete. It is important to note that undirected Results
questions such as “can you tell me what you were thinking NumberofThemes
duringyourfirstshot?”wereusedtotryandprovideinformation Table 6 displays the mean number of first-order themes that
of higher validity because the question avoids constraining the golfersidentifiedasinfluencingtheirdecisionmakingduringtwo
participanttointerpretthoughts(Eccles,2012). holes of golf, with a comparison made between data collected
using TA and interview at the three interview time points. A 2
DataAnalysis (condition)×3(time)repeatedmeasuresANOVAindicatedthat
Each participant’s verbal reports from TA and interviews there was a significant interaction between condition and time
were transcribed verbatim. Following checks for relevance and [F(2,10)=9.49,p=0.005,η2=0.65].Followuppairedsamples
consistencyeachtranscriptwassubjectedtoalinebylinecontent t-tests indicated that quantitatively the mean number of first-
analysis by the first author to identify statements which related orderthemesidentifiedduringTAdidnotdifferfromthenumber
to the decision making process of each shot played. Individual identifiedduringtheinterview10minafterperformanceor24h
elementsof‘meaningfulinformation’wereconsideredandcoded. afterperformance(p>0.05).However,significantlymorethemes
SimilartoNichollsandPolman(2008)theverbalizationsbythe wereidentifiedviaTAthanatinterview48hafterperformance
participants thatwerecodedwererelevanttothetask,whichin [t(5)=3.44;p=0.018,d=0.43].
thiscasemeantverbalizationsassociatedwithgolfperformance. Figure 1 shows the difference between TA and interview in
Datawhichwerenotrelevanttothetask,suchasverbalizations the numbers of times each second-order theme was identified
about what a participant had eaten the previous night, a loved asavariableinfluencingadecision,withcomparisonsdisplayed
one, and their favorite football team, were removed from the for interview 10 min post performance vs. TA (1a), 24 h post
dataset.Unitsofinformationwerecodedaccordingtocategories performance interview vs. TA (1b), and 48 h post performance
derivedfromamodifiedversionofNichollsandPolman’s(2008) interview vs. TA (1c). A 2 × 3 repeated measures ANOVA
codingscheme(seeTable5).Thirty-fourfirst-orderthemeswere was conducted for each of the 11 second-order themes to
initiallyidentifiedandthenrelatedthemesweregroupedinto11 investigate how the second-order themes identified at TA and
second-orderthemes.Amoredetailedcodingschemewasusedin interview differed at each time point. There was a condition
Study2withalargenumberoffirst-orderthemestorepresentthe main effect for the second-order theme Score [F(1,5) = 15.92;
widerangeofvariablesconsideredbyparticipantswhenmaking p = 0.01, η2 = 0.76] in that more verbalizations were made
decisionsonarealgolfcourse.Thesecondauthorindependently about the score during TA than interview. In addition there
analyzeda10%sampleoftherawdatausingthecodingscheme was a condition main effect for the second-order theme Pre-
developed by the first author. The Level of agreement between performance [F(1,5) = 39.71, p = < 0.001, η2 = 0.88], with
the first and second author was 71%. Any discrepancies were moreverbalisationsmadeaboutPre-performanceactivityduring
discussedandanagreementwasreached. TA than during interview. Finally, there was a significant
interaction between time and condition for the variable pre-
Numberofthemes
performance [F(2,10) = 6.31, p = 0.02, η2 = 0.56]. Follow up
The numberof first-order themeseachparticipant identified as paired samples t-tests found that pre-performance activity was
influencingtheirdecisionmakingoneachholewascalculatedfor cited more frequently in TA reports than at interview 10 min
theTAandinterviewdata.A2(condition) ×3(time)repeated after performance [t(5) = 9.71, p < 0.001, d = 1.60], 24 h
measure ANOVA was conducted to identify any differences after performance [t(5) = 3.00, p = 0.030, d = 1.61] and
betweenthe numberofthemesidentifiedviaTAandinterview. 48 h after performance [t(5) = 5.89, p = 0.002, d = 3.55].
A significant interaction was followed up by paired samples The largest difference was between TA and the interview
t-teststocompareTAandinterviewateachtimepoint.Thealpha 48 h after performance as indicated by the larger effect size.
levelwassetatp<0.05. All other main effects and interactions were non-significant
To establish how the data collected at TA and interview (p>0.05).
differed, the most frequently cited second-order themes using
SimilarityofThemes
each method of data collection were identified. Frequency of
citationofeachthemebetweenTAandinterviewwerecalculated Table 7 shows the percentage similarity between TA and
foreachinterviewtimepoint.Multiple2(condition)×3(time) interview for the thoughts (first-order themes) verbalized by
repeatedmeasuresANOVA’swereconductedtoinvestigatehow golfersduringdecisionmakingoneachshotplayed.Percentage
thesecond-orderthemesidentifiedatTAandinterviewdiffered similarityateachtimepointwasrelativelylow(rangingbetween
ateachtimepoint(10minpostperformance,24hpostand48h). 38and41%),suggestingparticipantsreporteddifferentthoughts
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Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
TABLE5|Firstandsecond-orderthemesidentifiedfromThinkAloud(TA)andinterviewdata.
Second-ordertheme First-ordertheme Description Exampleof‘raw’dataquote
Courseconditions Qualityofgreens Mentionofgrasslength,orobstaclesonthegreen “Thegreenhasbeensandedsoit’sbobbly”
whichcouldaffecttherunoftheball
Coursehazards Anythingstoppingtheplayer’sviewthegreenor “Can’tseetheholebecauseofthehugemoundinfront
anythingwhichcoulddisturbplay ofme”
Rough Beingintherough “Ifinishedontheleftsideoftherough”
Coursemanagement Lieofball Whenthegolferreferstothelieoftheball “thelieisnotthebest”
Playingbunkershot Beinginthebunker “It’sinthebunkerthat’shorrendous”
Clubselection Anyreferencetowhichclubhasbeenselected “I’musingadriverbecause...”
Pinposition Wherethepinislocatedonthegreen “It’sablueflagwhichindicatesthepinisattheback
portionofthegreen”
MovementofGreen Howtheballwillmoveonthegreen “It’sgoingtomovelefttoright”
Distancetopin Howfartheshotbeingplayedisfromthepin “Thisisa350yarddrivetothegreen”
Teeposition Wheretheteeispositionedonthegreen “theteeistowardthebackofthegreen”
Distractions Havingtowaitattees Waitingtoplayashotduetoeitherslowplayorgreen “Icoulddowiththatoldfellahurryingup”
keepers
Researcher Referringtotheresearcher “Ifeelanidiotdoingthisinfrontofyou”
Dirtontheball Havinganyformofmudordirtontheball “Theballwasdirty”
Temperature Anyreferencetohowhotorcoldtheplayeris “I’mreallyhotunderthishat”
Environment Wind Windisconsideredinrelationtoshotdecision. “ThewindismovinglefttorightandslightlyintosoIam
goingtouse....”
Tree Atreeobstructingtheintendedlineofnextshotoris “Thetreesarereachablefromthistee”
takenintoconsiderationofnextshot.
Rain Anyreferencetorain “It’sstartingtorainbutit’snottoobad”
Mistakes Shoterror Anyreferencetoashoterroraftershothasbeen “I’vehitthattoohard”,“I’vefluffedthat”
taken.Eitherphysical(swingfault)ormental(club “Ishouldofuseda...iron”
selection)
Performance Resultofshot Describinghowtheshothasfinished “That’sfinisheduponthefairway”
Happywiththeshot Positivestatementsabouttheshotjustplayed “that’sexactlyhowIwantedtohitit”
Negativewords Usinganykindofnegativewordsorcursingbeforeor “Iamarubbishgolfer”
afterashothasbeentaken
Shortputts Puttsfromwithin5feet “ItwasaboutthreefootandIjuststrokeditinforapar”
Score Score Anyreferencetoscorefortheholeorround “Ineededtoputtthisforabirdie”
Numberofputts Concernsaboutthenumberofputtsplayedduring “I’mgoingtotryand2puttpar”
theholeorround.
Safety Playsafe Choosingtoplayasaferorlesscautiousshot. “Ineedtoplayasafeshothere”
Risk Playingashotwithamorehighriskelement. “There’sabitofriskinthisshotbutifitpaysoffitwillbe
worthit”
Pre-performance Practiceswing Takingapracticeswingbeforehittingtheshot “Acoupleofpracticestrokeslookingatthehole”
Cleaningtheball Cleaningtheballbeforethenextshot “Iwilljustcleantheballup”
Pre-performancewords Wordssaidbeforeshotsareplayed “OKready”
Targetstoaimfor Objectsorpartsofthecoursethatareusedastargets “I’vepickedthechurchsteepleinthebackgroundto
Overallaimofshot forshots. aimfor”
Specifyingexactlywhatisintendedintheshot “IwantthistobendroundthetreeandthenIcanchipit
ontothegreen”
Reflection ‘LasttimeIplayedthis Anyreferencetowhattheydidpreviously(lastshotor “Likethelastputt,Idon’thavetoworryaboutthepace
shot’ lastweek)whenplayingasimilarshot toomuch”
‘LasttimeIplayedthis Anyreferencetowhattheydidpreviouslywhen “LasttimeIplayedthishole,Ihititontotheroad”
hole’ playingthesamehole.
Feelings/Emotions Anxious Whenagolferreferstobeingnervousoranxious “I’malwaysabitanxiousonthefirstshotofthefirst
hole.
Confidence Statingthattheperformerisfeelingconfidentabouta “IknowIcanhitthisshotwell”
shotorhole
during TA than at interview. One-way repeated measures Discussion
ANOVA indicated no significant difference in percentage The purpose of Study 2 was to test the methodology of TA
similarityacrossthethreetimepoints[F(2,17)=0.09;p=0.91, further by examining the congruence between verbal data
η2=0.01]. collected on decision making in golf via Level 3 TA reports
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 8 July2015|Volume6|Article1083
Whiteheadetal. ExaminingThinkAloudprotocolanalysis
FIGURE1|Meanfrequencyofsecond-orderthemesthatwerecitedduringThinkAloud(TA;duringperformance)andinterviews;(A)10minpost
performance(B)24hpost-performance(C)48hpostperformance.
FrontiersinPsychology|www.frontiersin.org 9 July2015|Volume6|Article1083