SE Academic Review 2023

57 ACADEMIC REVIEW 2023

Evaluation One of the limitations of this experiment is the sample size. 19 participants in an experiment is a relatively small sample number and therefore does not accurately represent of all hockey players. The t-test is limited and I question the validity of it because the experimental group was made up of only eight participants. If there were more participants in both groups of this experiment, it would be better as we could be more certain that the conclusion is valid. It is possible that the experimental group (the stretching group) would have felt pressure to perform better in the final tests because of the focus on the stretching programme in the experiment. This is known as the ‘Hawthorne Effect’, which is a term referring to the tendency of some participants to perform better when they are in an experiment (Cherry, 2020). They might have thought that the researcher was hoping for an increase in performance after the four-week programme and purposefully performed better in the final tests. Equally, the control group might have performed a certain way due to what they thought the researchers were hoping to see in the results. The participants may have had low motivation to perform well in the fitness tests. Since it was not a competitive environment, the only motivation to do well was if the participants had intrinsic motivation to beat their peers or do well for themselves or the researchers. The performance was not going to affect their position in the team and no coaches were watching, they knew it was only for research. If the participants were told their performance mattered for other reasons, motivation to perform better may have increased. During the four weeks between the two testing days, the participants were not monitored on what they were eating. With some participants having different diets such as being vegan or vegetarian, they may not have had the same levels of protein or carbohydrates as others which may have affected the accuracy of the results as these nutrients affect the activity in muscle contraction. Participants 4, 10 and 17 were vegetarian, this means that they have a lower consumption of protein which affects the levels of muscle hypertrophy and power. These are confounding variables that the researcher cannot control.

“ ...a stretching programme has a significant, positive effect on adolescent girl hockey players and should be recommended. ” Scholar which is known to be a credible source for researchers. However, some of the websites I used seemed to be accurate but should be questioned for accuracy and reliability. Even though all the participants are of similar age, the years of experience in hockey varies between the participants; it ranges from ten years to two years of experience. The ability to dribble the ball, around the agility course would have affected results as participants 2, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 18 all lost control of the ball at least once which meant that it took longer for them to go round. When researching similar studies, the stretching programmes varied from four weeks to eight weeks. With this stretching programme only lasting four weeks due to practical considerations this may have reduced the effect of the stretching programme on performance as it was a relatively short time. For the stretching to have a greater effect on performance, the programme may have had to have been used for a longer period, such as six to eight weeks at least. When researching and looking through my sources, I think the reliability and credibility of my sources may be varied. The IB Sports Science textbook was designed and used for IB students studying Sports Science and was therefore written by a trustworthy author. The journey articles of all the previous research on this topic I found through Google