Introduction

In the area of sport and exercise students and researchers often face important questions. For example, in sport psychology, a student may be interested in examining whether the pre-competitive anxiety levels of a group of athletes can be predicted by a number of psychological variables. In exercise physiology, another student may want to examine the degree to which a particular training programme has improved the aerobic capacity of a group of runners. In biomechanics, one may be interested to look at differences in the take-off velocity in the long jump between elite and non-elite athletes. In motor control and learning, a student may find it exciting to investigate whether the number of errors in a complex motor skill will vary between high and low anxiety conditions. In the area of exercise promotion, a student may want to test the hypothesis that frequency and duration of exercise will relate to body fat percentage.