A Study of Decision Making among Players of Contact sports, Semi Contact Sports and Non Contact Sports
Abstract
The study's objective was to compare athletes' decision-making abilities in contact, semi-contact, and non-contact sports. A total of 180 players in contact sports, 180 in semi-contact sports, and 180 in non-contact sports were chosen as participants. The subjects' ages ranged from 18 to 25 years. All the participants were participating in the regular activity classes under the requirements of the inter-college competition of Panjab University, Chandigarh. Decision-making was considered as the parameter of this study and this was measured by Decision Conflict Scale (DCS) Decision Conflict Scale developed by Annette M. O’Connor. The subjects were directed to respond to these items according to their feelings while in competition mode. One-way ANOVA in SPSS Package 22.0 was applied to compare decision-making differences among male players of contact sports, semi-contact sports, and non-contact sports, assuming a normal distribution. Following this, a post-hoc Tukey HSD test was used to identify the group variations, with the significance level set at 0.05. According to the study, notable variances were observed in decision-making sub-variables, i.e., values clarity, support, uncertainty, and decision conflict among athletes engaged in contact, semi-contact, and non-contact sports. However, no significant differences were found for the informed and effective decision sub-variables of the decision-making. Further post hoc analysis revealed that players of semi-contact sports have significantly more value clarity, support, uncertainty, and decision conflict sub-variables of decision-making compared to players of contact and non-contact sports. However, there was an insignificant difference found between players of contact and non-contact sports in value clarity, support, uncertainty, and decision conflict.
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