Perception of perceptions: Exploring A new approach to determine self-reported measures of readiness in division I collegiate athletes

The current study explored the perceptions of collegiate student athletes in relation to describing readiness constructs (Energy, Tiredness/Fatigue, Muscle Soreness, Physical Readiness, Stress and overall Well-Being). Using a custom electronic survey, participants were asked to determine the positioning of various descriptors (i.e., adjectives describing the construct readiness quality, e.g., very very sore for muscle soreness), on a 100-pt visual analog scale (VAS), to determine where they perceive these descriptors to be placed on a blank scale. The distribution of responses was determined from inspection of the data, with a Bayesian Logistic Regression used to assess the posterior probability that a descriptor was anchored above or below 50 (which was used as the neutral value as the scale minimum and maximum were blinded to the participants). Hierarchical clustering was then applied to determine which descriptors displayed similar response locations. The neutral descriptor was distributed around ∼50 for all readiness constructs suggesting the participants were able to identify the middle of the scale for each construct. The results of the clustering approach demonstrated approximately 5–7 descriptors may be appropriate for tiredness/fatigue, stress, muscle soreness and physical readiness scales. However, energy and well-being displayed more variability amongst responses suggesting these constructs may be more complex and may require a larger number of descriptors. This information provides evidence towards the appropriate design of a custom VAS scale to measure different readiness constructs, with the potential number of appropriate descriptive anchor points being ∼5–7 when using a 100-pt VAS.