Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology Conference

October 2010, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Reliability and Validity of the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire (DHAQ)

Melissa J. Hopwood 1, Joseph Baker 2 , Clare MacMahon 1 & Damian Farrow 1,3

1. Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

2. York University, Toronto, Canada

3. Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Australia

Investigations of training histories of elite athletes provide valuable information about the practice requirements and psychosocial conditions associated with expert sport performance. Past research in this area has involved either interviews with small samples of elite athletes, parents, and/or coaches, or the administration of basic questionnaires requiring retrospective recall of time spent in practice during each year of sport involvement. The Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire (DHAQ) extends the current literature by allowing for the collection of detailed developmental histories from a larger sample of participants than has been investigated in the past. Validation procedures for the DHAQ have revealed some notable observations pertaining to athlete training histories. Fifteen Australian national level athletes completed the DHAQ on two occasions, and participated in a semi-structured interview. Thirteen parents and nine coaches participated in a similar interview to substantiate athlete data. Intraclass correlations and percent agreement statistics were calculated for total hours of sport involvement between the two occasions of the DHAQ (ICC = .90, p < .01; percent agreement = 84.18%), between the initial completion of the DHAQ and the athlete interview (ICC = .86, p < .01; percent agreement = 81.71%), and between the initial completion of the DHAQ and the parent interview (ICC = .72, p < .01; percent agreement = 75.26%). These results suggest the DHAQ is a reasonably reliable instrument for the collection of historical athlete training data. Furthermore, several issues were identified that have implications for both the validity and interpretation of previous research in this area, as well as how such information should be collected in the future. These issues include: a) accurately determining time spent in competition and supplementary practice activities such as physical conditioning, b) acknowledging that training commitments vary throughout the year, and c) verifying the accuracy of information recalled across the career-span.

To cite this presentation:

Hopwood, M.J., Baker, J., MacMahon, C., & Farrow, D. (2010, October). Reliability and Validity of the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire (DHAQ). Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology Conference, Ottawa, Canada.

The Pathways to the Podium Research Project

Publications and Presentations

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Contact Us

An investigation of the development of sport expertise

Pathways to the Podium Research Project

Back to Publications and Presentations Home Page

Forward to NASPSPA 2010 Presentation