Psychological Object Analysis (POA). A Descriptive Approach in Qualitative Research in Sport Sciences

Abstract

The article describes the "psychological object analysis," a qualitative procedure of describing and analyzing, which expands and complements the methods in qualitative sports research. It is especially well-suited as a complementary procedure for addressing questions regarding the structural psychological analysis of motions specific to a certain kind of sport and its cultural-psychological meaning ("social meaning"). This is usually explored with the help of qualitative research approaches. Research concerning sports topics faces the problem that respondents frequently have difficulties describing their experience verbally in an accurate manner. This is not surprising given that the experiences specific to a certain type of sport are primarily body-centered. An experience, which is difficult to grasp in verbal description. This is where psychological object analysis can be useful. It complements classical interview surveys by providing psychological description and analysis of sports equipment, meaning the objects that are automatically associated with a certain kind of sport. This article clarifies the concept of psychological object analysis by describing the trend-sport snowboarding. In addition to presenting the results of a qualitative psychological interview survey, a psychological description and analysis of the sports equipment used for snowboarding is given. Furthermore, the process of and guidelines for psychological object analysis are discussed. This illustrates how the findings of the psychological object analysis can expand and complement the results of classical interview surveys, especially regarding the depth of their cultural-psychological insight. This illustrates how the findings of the psychological object analysis can expand and complement the results of classical interview surveys by way of adding to the cultural-psychological depth. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0301117