Psychological Factors Influencing Batsman Performance in Cricket

This research report, conducted within the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education for an MSc in Sports Coaching and Performance, investigates the psychological factors that influence a batsman's performance in cricket. The study aims to identify these factors through a mixed-methods approach, involving surveys and interviews with experienced coaches and batsmen. The research outlines the rationale, research setting, sampling strategy, data collection methods (including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews), and data analysis techniques (thematic analysis and descriptive statistics). Ethical considerations, including informed consent, confidentiality, and participant well-being, are carefully addressed. The research seeks to determine specific psychological elements, such as mental preparation and situational awareness, that significantly impact a batsman's performance, contributing valuable insights to cricket coaching and player development. The findings of this study will be disseminated to the wider community through the cricket club and university team, enriching the understanding of psychological aspects within the sport.

FACULTY ETHICS SUB GROUP LOW RISK
Version number:
Overview of Proposed Study
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Programme of
Study: (if
applicable)
Msc sports coaching and performance
Proposed Project
Title: Psychological factor that influence bastman
performance in cricket.
Co-investigators:
Code(s) of conduct
to be followed or the
guidelines
appropriate to your
area of study or
discipline:
Brief outline of your Research Study (750-1000 words) to include:
1. Rationale, research aims and/or questions
2. Research setting,
3. Your professional role (if appropriate)
4. Your relationship to participants (if any)
5. Details of sample and sampling strategy
6. Methods of data collection1
7. Data analysis
1 Data collection methods could include interviews, group interviews, focus groups, questionnaires,
observation, visual data, assessment or measurement, documentary analysis. Please specify how the
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data will be recorded (if appropriate) i.e. note taking, audio recording, visual recording.
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FACULTY ETHICS SUB GROUP LOW RISK
Rationale, Research aim and questions
Rationale-
Cricket is a team sport in which performance of a batsman
significantly contributes to the team score and determines the
potential of winning or losing the game. Psychological
assistance in sports is assessed to be facilitating mental
competency of the athletes that in turn enhances their
performance (Kumar and Shirotriya, 2010). Earlier only runs
scored by batsmen are considered as indicators of
performance but currently, new aspects of considering the
situation in which the batsmen performed against the quality
of bowler have emerged indicating significance of
psychological factors affecting performance of the batsmen
(Shah, 2017). Although it is established that psychological
preparation is effective in improving athletic competency but
specific psychological factors that influences the performance
of batsmen in cricket is not much researched upon. Hence,
this research will help to shed light on the specific topic.
Aim-
This research will be conducted with the aim to determine the
psychological factors that influences the performance of a
batsman in cricket.
Question-
Which psychological factors affect the performance of a
batsman in cricket?
Research Setting
The research will be conducted with 10 coaches with
extensive experience of training batsmen in cricket and 100
individual batsmen. The candidates will be surveyed and
interviewed after the Match or practice or over emails and
telephones to maintain social distancing yet gathering the
relevant data needed to gain insight on psychological
perceptions towards batsmen’s performances. Prior to the
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collection of primary data, literature review would have been
executed to gain knowledge and understanding about
theoretical constructs related to the research topic. After
complete data collection, analysis will be done. Followed by a
thorough analysis of the collected data specific psychological
factors that influence performance of batsman in cricket is
expected to be identified distinctly.
Relationship to Participants
The researcher will have no prior relationship with the
participants in the research. However, since the participants
include coaches and players, there might be previous
interactions in relevance to sports environment.
Sample and sampling strategy
Sample for this research would be the coaches and batsmen
at local club and university cricket team The sampling will be
done by using purposive sampling strategy. It uses specific
criteria for identifying most appropriate candidates from whom
relevant information could be derived (Gentles et al. 2015). In
this research context, this strategy would help to identify those
coaches who can shed light on the details of psychological
working of the mind of batsmen through their experiences.
The 10 coaches for interview will be selected on the basis of
the following criteria:
(i) Minimum 5 years’ experience of coaching
(ii) Experience of handling at least 10 batsmen’s performances
(iii) Reputation of good and understanding relationship with most of the students
The 100 batsmen will be selected by applying only 1 criterion
of being played a minimum of 10 games at local or national
levels. This will be a random selection because, it will help to
retrieve a wide and unbiased range of information about the
batsmen’s experience and perception of psychological factors
affecting their performances.
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Methods of Data Collection
Both primary and secondary data will be collected for this
research. Secondary data will be collected by extensive
research over internet and electronic databases like Google
Scholar to access books, journals, reviews and reports from
authentic sources. Primary data will be collected from the
batsmen through survey questionnaire which will be sent to
them over email. It will comprise of 10 questions including
both quantitative and qualitative type of questions regarding
their perceptions towards psychological factors influencing
their batting performances. Derivation of quantitative and
qualitative data from the batsmen will be helpful to align the
information with that of the literature and against the
reflections shared by the coaches through interviews.
Coaches will be interviewed over telephone with 10 semi-
structured and open-ended questions deriving qualitative data
about their opinions on psychological factors affecting
batsmen’s performances. Before conducting the survey and
interview, all participants will be well informed about the
research and their consent to participation will be obtained.
Their participation will be voluntary with scope of withdrawing
from the research as per their own convenience.
Data Analysis
The data collected through interviews will be analysed using
thematic analysis technique. It helps to detect the underlying
patterns regarding the research phenomenon or concern
(Clarke and Braun, 2014). Here it will identify the coaches’
perceptions towards influencing batsmen’s performance
through psychological factors. The survey responses will be
analysed using descriptive statistics. This method helps to
analyse the data through graphical representation easing their
interpretations (Davies, 2020). Here, batsmen’s reflections
towards psychological factors influencing their performances
will be analysed through this technique. Comparative analysis
of the primary and secondary data will further help to deduce
the accurate and specific psychological factors that affect the
batting performances.
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Reference List
Clarke, V. and Braun, V., 2014. Thematic analysis.
In Encyclopedia of critical psychology. New York: Springer.
pp. 1947-1952.
Davies, C., 2020. A Quick Guide to Quantitative Research in
the Social Sciences. UWTSD, Carmarthen.
Gentles, S.J., Charles, C., Ploeg, J. and McKibbon, K.A.,
2015. Sampling in qualitative research: Insights from an
overview of the methods literature. The qualitative
report, 20(11), pp.1772-1789.
Kumar, P. and Shirotriya, A.K., 2010. ‘Sports psychology’a
crucial ingredient for athletes success: conceptual
view. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 44(Suppl 1), pp.i55-
i56.
Shah, P., 2017. New performance measure in Cricket. ISOR
Journal of Sports and Physical Education, 4(3), pp.28-30.
Responsibilities to Participants
1. Voluntary Informed Consent
How will you gain access to the participants?
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The participants who will be involved in this project will be some of my team mates
from the university cricket club and club cricketer
How will you provide participants with the information they need about the study?
Please attach a copy of the information that will be provided to the
participants where appropriate
I will provide the participants a dossier with the necessary information about my project
and their role in my project plus I will give verbal information during the day of their
participant
How will you ensure that you have informed consent from the participants? Please
attach a
copy of the consent form(s) that will be provided to the participants where
appropriate
I will make sure the participants have read the consent form I have provided them and
have signed it as well.
How will you inform participants of their right to withdraw from the study?
If any participant feels he/she is incapable of performing, as a result of an injury or
disinterest during my project, I will ensure to add a clause in my consent form in
such a way that they can withdraw from the project at any time.
How will you inform participants of the complaints procedure?
Checklist for managing Voluntary Informed Consent - Tick all that apply
Please confirm that all respondents will be given an appropriate level
of information about and be given adequate time to think about the
information before being asked to agree to participate
✔
Please confirm that all participants taking part in an interview, focus
group, observation (or other activity which is not questionnaire based) will
be taken through an informed consent process
✔
Please confirm that all participants completing a questionnaire will be
informed on the Information Sheet that returning the completed
questionnaire implies consent to participate AND that this message will
also be presented at
the start of the questionnaire in an online implied consent statement
✔
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Please confirm that all participants being asked to provide sensitive
personal data will have the following statement on the consent form or
on the bottom of their questionnaire ’I consent to the processing of my
personal information for the purposes of this research study. I
understand that such information will be treated as confidential and
handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998’
✔
Please confirm that all respondents will be told that they can withdraw at
any time, ask for their data to be removed from the project until it is no
longer practical to do so (e.g. when a report has been written and
submitted)
✔
Duty of Care to the Participants
How will you ensure the participants’ well-being during the research?
I will make sure to inform the participants about the precautions to be taken before
their involvement in my project, given that they are cricket players from the
university cricket team and cricket club
What information will you provide to the participants at the end of their involvement
in the study (if appropriate)?
I will provide them with the data that was recorded during their performance at the end
of the study. Though, none of the data will be provided to them in a physical proof.
Does the Chief Investigator or any other investigator/collaborator have any direct
personal involvement (e.g. financial, share-holding, personal relationship etc.) in the
organisations funding the research that may give rise to a possible conflict of interest?
If so, please describe these below and the arrangements to mitigate the conflicts.
Researcher Safety
Are there any issues around researcher safety and if so how will you address
those? Are there any risks?
Taking into account that the participants for my project will be physically fit players, there
are unlikely to be any risks.
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2. Managing Data
How will you ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of the research participants?
I will ensure to add a clause in the information and consent form, in order to
make them aware about their data being used in any publication, and if they
wish to be anonymous during their participant .
Checklist for managing issues of confidentiality and
anonymity Tick all that apply
Questionnaires will be returned
anonymously and indirectly
✔
Questionnaires and/or interview
transcripts will only be identifiable by a
unique identifier (e.g. code/pseudonym)
✔
Lists of identity numbers or
pseudonyms linked to names and/or
addresses will be stored securely and
separately from the research data
✔
All names of people, places or
organisations which could lead to the
identification of
individuals or organisations will be
changed
✔
I confirm that my research records will
be held securely at USW according to
the Data Protection Act 1998 and in
accordance with USW guidelines
✔
I confirm that I will not use the research
data for any other purpose WITHOUT
contacting the Faculty Ethics Champion
or USW Research Governance Officer.
This includes the sharing of research
data with people outside of the research
team.
✔
Data will be stored on a personal
computer and, as well as the computer
being password protected, so will the
documents
✔
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How will research findings be fed back to the research participants?
I will be forwarding the fed back of research through email or through messages to the
participant .
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FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCES AND EDUCATION
FACULTY ETHICS SUB GROUP LOW RISK
How will the research be disseminated to the wider community?
I will publish this research through the Captain or Manager of cricket club and university team.
Attachments
Tick all that are included
Data collection tools
Adverts and standard letters NA
Information Sheet(s) ✔
Consent Form(s) ✔
Other approvals, for example approval of external organisations allowing
you access to their participants. Or internal approvals and USW risk
assessment.
NA
Applicant’s Declaration
If your project is approved you must follow the process and documents you
have submitted. If your application is not approved you will need to refer to
this version of your application when preparing your re-submission. Please
note if you intend on deviating from the approved protocol or documentation you will
need to request approval for any changes. Please indicate the following:
I have read and agree to abide by the USW documents: Research
Governance Framework (2016) and Guidelines for Research and
Consultancy (2016)
✔
I have read and agree to abide by the Code(s) of Conduct identified at
the start of this form
✔
I understand that failure to follow my approved protocol constitutes
research misconduct and the policy for such offences will be followed in
such an instance
✔
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