What do sports coaches actually know? Development and validation of physical and technical common content knowledge test packs

Abstract

While it is widely accepted that coach knowledge plays a foundational role in coaching effectiveness, there are few validated tools to determine pre- and- in-service coaches’ content knowledge (CK) levels. Thus, the aim of the present study was to develop and validate two CK test packs for developing physical and technical competence in athletes. Using convenience sampling, 2457 pre-service coaches participated in this study voluntarily. Several steps were followed for development of nine CK tests including facilitating panels, and processes for establishing content and face validities. Winstep was used to conduct Rasch analyses. Content validity was established, and the infit and outfit statistics confirmed that, with minor exceptions, all of the tests met the standards as the difficulties of questions matched respondents’ knowledge levels. The item and person separation indices showed excellent and acceptable confidence levels in item difficulties and respondents, respectively. The Wright map further demonstrated that all tests had a good range of difficulty levels to discriminate different knowledge levels. Data generated through the use of these CK test packs can be used to understand the actual knowledge levels of coaches, to monitor their improvements and to inform the development of educational programs.