Validation of the scale of learning situations for sports coaches – ESATE: elaboration process and validity evidences

Abstract

The study’s objective was to present the first evidences of validity of the Scale of Learning Situations for Sports Coaches (ESATE) - related to content; model adjustment; and internal consistencies. Four judges-evaluators participated on the content validation. For the other procedures, the ESATE was applied to 104 tennis coaches. Initially the ESATE had 25 items divided into three dimensions: Mediated, Non-Mediated and Internal Situations. All items went through an evaluation of language clarity, practical pertinence and theoretical dimensionality. Those items that did not reach the desired levels went through a reformulation or were relocated into another dimension. All items showed satisfactory indices (CVC ≥ 0.80) for language clarity and practical pertinence, and "substantial"/"almost perfect" (K ≥ 0.79) indices of agreement between judges for theoretical dimensionality. The model that best fit the available data was a second-order three-dimensional model with 18 items. This model showed "reasonable"/"good" indices of adjustment. The internal consistency of the scale was classified as "good" (α = 0.873), and its dimensions’ were "weak"/"good" (0.766 ≤ α ≤ 0.801). Thus, we state that the final version of the ESATE has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties for the assessment of learning situations when applied to tennis coaches.