ABSTRACT

This chapter explores how research can make itself more palatable and useful to elite performance. It examines the inherent challenges of research in this hyper dynamic sphere, and offers some methods which can help to counter them. The chapter considers what the researcher is trying to do, and how this viewpoint can help or hinder the application process. It presents pragmatism, a scientific approach with a rich history, as a potential ‘best fit’ method. Running as a close parallel to the goals they set for their work, the researcher’s epistemology may also play a role in how well data from their work may impact elite performance. In terms of how it drives an actual project, the pragmatic philosophy places a number of requirements on researchers. Pragmatism encourages researchers to select methods for collecting and analysing their data that are relevant to their specific question, rather than the other way around.