ABSTRACT
Capturing expertise is a challenging task, particularly given the inherently complex environment of the typical performance setting. Current research findings continue to highlight the importance of creating representative research methodologies, designed to assess the continuous and unobtrusive interactions that occur between the expert performer and the vast array of sensory information that surrounds him/her (Pluijms et al., 2013; see also Pinder et al., 2011). The need to ensure the presence of all key information sources that guide a performer’s actions in tests of expertise (Pinder et al., 2011) demands the adoption of integrative, interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., see Millar et al., 2013). Fortunately, advances in technology where data are able to be collected in situ are providing unprecedented opportunities for sport scientists to achieve these goals. However, the vast amounts of information that can be collected often present some additional problems, given the wide range of variables from which to choose. One of the possible approaches for selecting and delimiting the list of experimental variables, in a principled way, is for skill acquisition scientists, coaches, and performers to work collaboratively to design tests that accommodate the needs of all of the key stakeholders. As such, this chapter will propose that capturing expertise in field settings requires sport scientists to base experimental designs on an interdisciplinary theoretical foundation that utilizes the expertise of practitioners (e.g., coaches and athletes) to identify the key variables upon which to focus (e.g., Millar et al., 2013). We propose that an ecological dynamics framework based around Newell’s (1986) notion of constraints, where the critical interactions between task, environmental, and organismic constraints are maintained in their natural state, may allow motor learning and performance to be examined in a more representative manner (Zelaznik, 2014). Given that other chapters in this book focus more specifically on the ecological dynamics theory and the application of representative research designs (see Chapters 5, 12, and 24), we will only offer a perfunctory discussion of the key principles of these concepts to ensure that we focus on the challenges of measuring expertise in field settings. We initially contextualize this discussion by considering the problem from the point of view of a “new” skill acquisition scientist charged with measuring the performance of an elite cohort of athletes. We will include a brief overview of previous approaches to capturing expertise, as well as some of the problems associated with these approaches, before providing some suggestions and theoretical principles that can guide sport scientists’ practice going forward.
