... a 10-year period, there were 706 journal articles that fitted into the 'qualitative' category, which represents about 20% of the total (p6). People who take a positivistic standpoint believe that the goal of knowledge is to describe what we experience, i.e. what we can observe and measure. The aim of positivism is to propose a hypothesis that can subsequently be tested. Therefore, emotions and thoughts cannot be directly observed and are thought by some to not be "legitimate topics for scientific study" (Trochim 2002). The other, and opposing epistemological consideration is interpretivism. This states that strategy is required to understand the differences between people and objects of the natural world and requires social scientists to determine the meaning of social action. The research topic discussed here is one that attempts to bridge the gap between the lab and the field by studying the complex interactions between the coach and their ...

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