Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

Burnout 19
consistency (Dwyer & Fischer, 1988) this component of the LSS was of concern to the
present research. To combat the potentially inadequate reliability of this subscale,
improvements to its internal consistency were attempted based on previous research by
Price and Weiss (2000). These authors added three additional items to the autocratic
subscale in an attempt to improve its internal consistency. Their items included “makes
decision regardless of what athletes think,” “does not take into account athletes’
suggestions when making decisions,” and “controls what athletes can and cannot do.”
These additions resulted in adequate reliability for this subscale. Therefore, these same
additions were used for the present study after having obtained permission from Price and
Weiss.
Procedures
Athletes. Two rounds of data collection were used to obtain the sample of
collegiate swimmers used in data analyses. The first site used for data collection was a
major international swimming competition held in the Midwest. A proposal explaining
the study’s purposes and procedures was prepared and forwarded to the event’s executive
director for review and permission to survey collegiate swimmers participating and/or
volunteering at the championships. Upon being granted permission, the site where data
collection would occur was discussed and finalized. It was decided that a table would be
set up in the vicinity adjacent to the registration area where all swimmers either
competing in or volunteering for the event would pass through to receive their
credentials. The researcher used the table to store study inventories in addition to
displaying the prizes used for a raffle for those who completed the questionnaires. A