My research questions have not changed much since last week. I wish to research mental health and how that impacts performance and being able to find a correlation between mental training and success in athletic competition. To accomplish that, I am looking to Novak Djokovic and how he mentally trains for competition. Because he is one of the greatest tennis players, finding out his secrets for keeping a calm mind would allow us to see the impacts of mental health on competition.
- Does mental preparation and mental training such as meditation etc. help athletes such as Novak Djokovic in competition?
- Does mental training correlate to more success on the court?
- What type of mental training does Novak Djokovic incorporate in his everyday life to help him become a better, more successful athlete?
To answer these questions, I plan to use mixed methodology, both qualitative and quantitative research. I was first planning on using qualitative research only but as I began my research presentation for this week, I found that there was more quantitative research available for this topic. A lot of things go into mental health, many of which are biological, related to hormones and stress levels during competition that could impede performance. Being able to control ones stress response by things like meditation and quieting the mind, could improve ones performance level greatly.
Thinking about my unit of analysis which was to compare results with mental preparations taken by professional athletes and hope to find a correlation between mental preparation and results. As well, compare to college athletes to identify possible barriers that stand in the way of college athletes pursuing their professional aspirations. Having both qualitative and quantitative research to apply and compare between these professional athletes and college athletes could allow us to see the lack of mental preparation in college compared to professional levels which may be an indication of why some athletes are more successful. Obviously, there is some level of skill and talent that make certain athletes stand out but why those stand out athletes may or may not reach the pro level may depend on whether or not they mental prepare and train.
This is a research topic whose scope may be too narrow — only because I don’t know how much has been written about Djokovic specifically. Consider whether you’re seeking to confirm an existing hypothesis, or to construct a new model of mental acuity toward excellence in sport. Your use of mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods is helpful, but it’s less a methodology and more an approach. Consider whether there exist models of mental acuity that you can use to apply to this study — meaning you’re seeking to implement a quasi-experimental approach to test and possibly expand the model — or if you’re seeking to develop a new or improved model, in which case your study is more exploratory in nature. That will help determine that kinds of methods you’ll need to implement to collect data to support your position.