Reseach

Jamber, E. A., & Zhang, J .J. (1997).   Investigating leadership, gender, and coaching level using the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale. Journal of Sport Behavior, 20, 313-322.


      The purpose of the study was to determine possible differences in leadership behaviors,

using the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS), between male and female coaches

and among different coaching levels.   The researchers submitted two hypotheses.   The first

hypothesis was that male and female coaches would respond differently to the RLSS in

overall leadership behaviors.   The second hypothesis was that differences on the RLSS

would occur among coaching levels: junior high, high school, and college.

    The sample was nonrandom, including 162 coaches that were chosen on a volunteer

basis.   Within the sample, 118 (0.73) of the coaches were male, while 44 (0.27) were

female.   With regard to coaching level, 25 (0.15) were junior high coaches, 99 (0.61) high

school, and 38 (0.24) at the college level.   While this is a good sample size, the problem lies

with the distribution of the sample.   The sample number for junior high coaches, in particular,

is rather low.   A larger sample with regard to all categories would have aided in the data

analysis, particularly when looking for possible interactions between gender and coaching

level.

    The instrument utilized was the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS) developed

by Zhang, Jensen, and Mann in 1996.   This scale is used to measure six leadership

behaviors:   training and instruction, democratic, autocratic, social support, positive feedback,

and situational consideration.   The scale uses 60 statements, which were preceded by “In

coaching, I:” A Likert scale was then given for each statement: 1 = never; 2 = seldom; 3 =

occasionally; 4 = often; and 5 = always.   This produced an ordinal level data set.   Scales

were administered in a number of... [continues]

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