January 2019 - 12

POWERLINE strength and conditioning
understanding
STRENGTH AND
CONDITIONING
RESEARCH DESIGN
By Ken Mannie, columnist
Research is the heart and soul of everything we do with
our athletes in the strength and conditioning profession.
As coaches, we owe it to our athletes to be as diligent
as possible in presenting them with activities that are
validated with evidence-based data. It's an obligation and a
duty that should not be taken lightly.
The dilemma arises when coaches do not have a solid
foundation in the process of scientific research. As a
result, examining and deciphering it can become arduous
and disconcerting.
In his text, " A Practical Approach to Strength and
Conditioning, " Matt Brzycki, assistant director of campus
recreation and fitness at Princeton University, does an
excellent job of putting it all into understandable, useable
terms. Let's examine some of the key terms strength
coaches face when perusing the research.
� Abstract. This is the condensed summary you will
find as an introduction to the main body of the study.
Individuals seeking only the major findings of the study
will go no further than reading the abstract, but doing this
alone is ill-advised. It can be challenging, but reading the
entire paper can help bring crucial information to light.
� Experimental group. These are the individuals who
followed the training protocol or intervention exactly as
prescribed.
� Control group. This comprises individuals who were
not subjected to the specific training protocol or intervention
executed by the experimental group. The control group's
results are compared against the experimental group's to
determine if any changes were a result of the protocol.
� Placebo. This is a substance containing no active
ingredients and is used in experiments looking at the
effects of various products on the body's internal systems.
It can take ubiquitous forms - pill, liquid, powder,
injectable, wearable. They are used so that the subjects
cannot distinguish between the actual product being
tested and the placebo.
� Variable. In research, there are independent and
dependent variables. Independent variables are controlled
by the research team and are the presumed cause of the
outcome. Dependent variables represent the presumed
effect and are measured by the research team.
" Independent variables might be sets, reps, equipment
or training frequency, " Brzycki wrote. " Dependent
variables could be muscular strength, muscular size, peak
power and percentage of body fat. To isolate the true cause
of one or more effects, the researchers should manipulate
only one independent variable and keep the others the
same. So, a study that examines the effects of repetitions
on muscular strength and size should assign different
repetition schemes to the experimental groups without
changing the number of sets, the type of equipment, the
frequency of training, or any other independent variable. "
� Correlation. This is the association between two
variables. A high correlation usually equates with a strong
association. However, correlation does not necessarily
imply causation. This is where significance comes in.
12 JANUARY 2019
January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2019
