Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 1 | Page 27

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2018, Vol. 1 Discussion The primary aim of the study was to develop and test a new learning needs analysis tool for sports and physical activity coaches. The tool itself worked very well. Focus group participants responded positively to the questions, demonstrated a good level of understanding of the items, the framing questions and the response scale. The main criticism of the survey during focus group testing related to the number of the questions and the overall length of the questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was reduced following this feedback prior to implementation. The online version of the survey also performed very well. The survey was monitored throughout to check for completion of individual questions and for completion of the full questionnaire. All respondents who accessed the online survey link completed it in full and all responded to each of the 39 items in the core part of the questionnaire. This demonstrates a good level of understanding of the questions and the relevance of the survey to the target population. During the analytical phase of the project, it was revealed that there was little variation in the response data. Most respondents scored each item (both criteria) at either three (quite important/ quite well) or four (very important/very well). While this might be expected for the “importance” rating, given that all items were based on solid research evidence and were deemed central to the role of a coach, this was surprising for the “demonstrate” rating. It is difficult to know whether this is a result of the sample (more experienced and qualified coaches than average) or due to the scale itself. UK Coaching would like to test this further through repeating the survey with a more diverse and less experienced cohort of coaches, and through testing the use of a different (possibly longer) Likert scale. Once these issues have been resolved, the tool could certainly be used for wider roll-out across the sector and could be tailored according to specific need (ie dependent on type of sport/activity or coaching role). References 1  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/486622/Sporting_ Future_ACCESSIBLE.pdf 2 https://www.sportengland.org/media/10629/sport- england-towards-an-active-nation.pdf 3 https://www.sportengland.org/media/11317/ coaching-in-an-active-nation_the-coaching-plan- for-england.pdf 4 https://www.ukcoaching.org/sites/default/files/ UK%20Coaching%20Strategy%202017-21.pdf 5 http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_ arttext&pid=S1807-76922013000100006 6 http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_ arttext&pid=S1807-76922013000100006 7 https://www.ukcoaching.org/sites/default/files/ TNA-PDP-Guide.pdf 8 https://www.ukcoaching.org/coaching-behaviours- framework 9 http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/ HennessyHicks_trainingneedstool.pdf 10 http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/ HennessyHicks_trainingneedstool.pdf Contact Beth Thompson – [email protected] The tool has provided useful insight that will enable UK Coaching to develop its new learning strategy. Further research work will be undertaken in the near future to capture similar feedback from coach developers, coaching system managers and employers/deployers of coaches. This will provide a holistic picture of learning and development needs and will inform the future development of learning programmes for sports and physical activity coaches across the sector. 27