(67) CRITERION VALIDITY OF VISUAL ANALOG SCALES FOR PERCEIVED READINESS AND EXERTION DURING COLLEGE BASKETBALL ASSESSMENTS

Abstract Details:

Purpose: Those involved in athlete assessment utilize subjective measures to assess perceived readiness and exertion due to the scales ease and practical relevance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of two visual analog scales (VAS) to their counterparts for readiness and exertion metrics during assessment batteries for Division II, NCAA male basketball athletes.

Methods: A sample of male collegiate basketball athletes (n = 16; aged 21 ± 2 y) participated this study. Participants were asked to provide subjective measures of readiness before and after exertion using two assessments. These sessions were part of their preseason performance testing process. The testing occurred during two sessions (separated by approximately 18 hours). Session 1 included vertical jump protocols (two standing attempts, two running attempts) and a multiple repetition max for deadlifts. Session 2 included multiple repetition max for bench press. At the beginning of each Session, participants were asked to report their perceived readiness on a commonly-used perceived readiness scale (PRS: 0-10) and on a modified visual analog scale of perceived readiness (100-mm line anchored with “Unable to Perform” and “Ready for Peak Performance”). Then, at the end of each Session, participants reported ratings of perceived exertion on the Omni scale (Omni RPE: 0-10) and a modified visual analog scale of perceived exertion (100-mm line anchored with “Rest/No Exertion” and “Maximal Exertion”). VAS scoring requires participants to make a vertical mark that intersects the 100-mm line at the approximate location on the spectrum of which they fell. Later, the VAS scores were measured and recorded to the nearest whole millimeter on the scale. Data from both sessions were pooled for analysis for each comparison. Spearman’s Rho correlations were selected to evaluate criterion validity as the VAS scales related to their criterion counterpart – which are ordinal scales.

Results: There were a total of 33 observations for perceived readiness and 31 observations for ratings of perceived exertion as two participants did not complete an assessment. The results of the Spearman’s Rho correlations showed strong correlations between the measures of readiness (rs(31) = 0.94, p < 0.001) and moderate relationships for exertion (rs(29) = 0.53, p = 0.002). Of note, when ordinal data were pooled and continuous data were pooled, the relationship mirrored that of the readiness (rs(63) = 0.94, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: These data show that both visual analog scales have moderately-to-strong relationships with traditionally-used subjective metrics for readiness and exertion – establishing a level of criterion validity. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Visual analog scales show promise as tools with which researchers and practitioners can assess subjective responses and be confident the data are continuous and limit bias related to recall with serial measures.

Acknowledgements: None