Hackett, James Michael (2025) Non-Ergodicity and Within-Person Associations Between Enjoyment, Exertion, and Recovery in University Rowers. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Understanding how athletes experience and adapt to training requires attention to both psychological and physiological factors. This study investigated the day-to-day relationships between enjoyment, perceived exertion, and perceived recovery in university-level rowers, and whether group-level patterns reflect individual-level processes, an assumption known as ergodicity, which may not hold in dynamic psychological domains like sport. Using a repeated-measures design, 33 athletes provided daily self-reports across a competitive season. Due to varying data completeness and assumption checks across pairs, final analytical samples differed: 12 for enjoyment and perceived exertion, 11 for enjoyment and perceived recovery, and 19 for perceived exertion and perceived recovery. Analyses compared group-level associations, calculated using Pearson correlations and general linear regressions (GLRs), to individual-level associations, assessed using repeated measures correlation (RMCorr), and GLRs performed on each participant’s repeated measures. RMCorr revealed a statistically significant, weak negative association between perceived exertion and next-day perceived recovery, with outlier (rₘ = -0.10, p = .034). Although only one association was statistically significant, comparisons across all variable pairs revealed discrepancies between group-level and individual-level estimates, as well as substantial variation in individual slopes. These differences in direction and strength suggest that the relationships between enjoyment, perceived exertion, and perceived recovery may not generalize from group to individual-level, aligning with the study’s aim of testing non-ergodicity. These findings point to the value of individualized monitoring in applied sport settings. Perceived exertion remains a practical monitoring tool. Future studies should include diverse samples, objective indicators, and non-linear time series methods to capture individual-specific patterns.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Neumann, N.D. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Talent Development and Creativity (TDC) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jul 2025 14:01 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Jul 2025 14:01 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5777 |
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