Abstract
Callary et al. (2017) advocated for the incorporation of andragogic principles when investigating coaching practices related to Masters athletes. No valid survey instruments exist for examining adult-learning principles in the coached Masters sport context. Targeted literature searches within Google Scholar, Pubmed, Psychinfo, Jstor, and Proquest uncovered 13 tools for assessing andragogy outside of sport. We identified the Instructional Perspectives Inventory (IPI; Henschke, 1989; Lubin, 2013) for use within sport because (a) it is the only andragogic tool that measures coaching behaviours from the perspective of the coach, and (b) there is preliminary evidence of reliability, content and factor validity. Our study investigated the suitability of a sport-modified IPI for assessing Masters sport coaches' use of andragogic principles with their athletes. We detail our initial process of modifying items and vetting content validity, with researchers (n = 3) and coaches (n = 12), to ensure relevance to the sporting context. Next, we analyzed 185 sport coaches' (51 % female; M age = 53.4 yrs, range 19 – 87) responses on the modified IPI, which comprised 38 items. Exploratory Factor Analyses (oblique rotations) assessed Lubin's (2013) 8 factor structure. Results showed good model fit: CFI = .903, SRMR = .042, RMSEA = .054 (90% CI = .042 – .065), ?² (703) = 2260.299, p < .001, and ?²/df = 3.215. However, two items failed to load on any factor, and nine had problematic cross-loadings. Subsequent Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling analyses suggested a 27 item solution, loading onto 3 factors based on adult coaches' data.
