Recruiting for MSc student - Questionable Research Practices in Sports and Exercise Science

This position has now been filled.

Sports researchers often define research hypothesis using vague or “umbrella” terms, such as “strength” or “performance” instead of using specific, testable dependent variables (DVs). Having a hypothesis tested using several variables greater than 1 is problematic, because hypothesis testing by its nature is determined using binominal outcomes - either the hypothesis is consistent with the data, or it is not. How do researchers select variables to conclude with in the case where DVs > 1? In addition, having a number of tested dependent variables also reduces the likelihood that a study is sufficiently powered to detect true effects for all measured factors, given that power analysis (if any) is typically calculated using a single effect of interest. This masters project will investigate the potential issues of this practice, and report on the ratio of tested variables to hypothesis statements, in a random sub-set of Sports Science published research papers.

Details

• Funding Agency: TU Dublin
• Student Stipend per annum = €16000 (part time work will be accommodated during this MSc).
• Materials & Travel Budget per annum = €1700 total
• Fees covered by the funding.
• Duration of Funding = 20 Months
• Deadline to submit an application 11/09/2023 – Flexible start date can be accommodated.

Requirements

• 2.1 Hons BSc in Sports Science and Health, Athletic Therapy and Training, Physiotherapy, or related discipline.
• Application must have experience and a keen interest with Research Methods, above simply covering a module of Statistics or Research methods in their studies.

Additional desired experience

• Experience or activities in research such as academic publications or assistant researcher positions.
• Experience in data analysis, statistics, and / or R (with coding experience).

To apply, please fill out the Expression of Interest form. Contact Joe Warne (joe.warne@tudublin.ie) for further information if necessary.