322 / Sport Psychologist's Digest group of elite women marathoners had a mean score that reflected higher extraversion

than the general population norm (12.08) reported by Eysenck and Eysenck (1968) and the other three groups of this study. The mean of the entire sample (11.63), however, was closer to the general population norm and thus indicative of less introversion than norms reported in previous sport research. Further, no differences were observed between the introversionextraversion scores of elite and nonelite runners. Frazier concluded that, on the basis of this relatively large sample of heterogeneous marathoners, distance runners do not have the strongly introverted personalities attributed to them by earlier research with small samples of perhaps more elite athletes. Frazier, S.E. (1987). Introversionextraversion measures in elite and nonelite distance runners. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 867-872. and the selection-by-maturation interaction. Extemal validity was discussed in terms of the dimensions in sports research that limit the generality of research fmdings. Cautions about generalizing across sports, ability levels, age groups, and gender were advanced. Although the author suggests that it is the investigator's responsibility to decide which of the validity issues takes precedence, the following guidelines were advanced: (a) predictive research should emphasize construct and external validity, and (b) construct and conclusion validity should be stressed in intervention research. Taylor, J. (1987). A review of validity issues in sport psychological research: Types, problems, solutions. Joumal of Sport Behavior, 10, 3-13.

Imagery Styies and Free TTirow Performance Ziegler's study examined the effects of imagery training on free-throw shooting in 92 college women with varying levels of previous basketball experience but no current involvement in the sport. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: (a) a passive-imagery group, (b) an active-imagery group, (c) a passive-imagery-with-physical-practice group, (d) a physical-practice-only group, and (e) a control group that completed only the pretest, posttest, and retention tests of the study. Experimental subjects received their respective training in 9 sessions of 20 trials each. Passive-imagery subjects were instructed in both intemal and extemal imagery perspectives but were encouraged to use intemal imagery to imagine themselves successfully shooting a free throw. Active-imagery subjects imagined and simultaneously completed the motions of shooting, without a ball.

Are We Measuring What We Claim to Measure? This article examined critical validity issues conceming research in sport psychology. Four types of validity within quasi-experimentation (construct, conclusion, internal, and extemal) were presented along with the problems and possible solutions for the sport psychology researcher. Construct validity was discussed in terms of instrumentation, performance measures, treatments, samples, and experimental settings. Various sources of Type II error were discussed relative to conclusion validity. The author suggests that researchers should increase the power of treatments, increase sample sizes, and obtain more heterogeneous samples. Intemal validity was discussed relative to the lack of random assignment, subject maturation.

Sport Psychologist's Digest / 323 Passive-imagery-with-physical-practice group members completed an image of themselves doing the task and then executed an actual free throw with the ball. The active imagery and passiveimagery-with-physical-practice groups (who had the least prior basketball experience) had significantly higher percentage change scores from pre- to posttest than did the physical-practiceonly group. When years of prior basketball playing experience and pretest scores were included as covariates, the passive- and active-imagery groups performed the best on the posttest. However, on a retention test given 3 weeks following the posttest, the passiveimagery group, which had the most prior experience, performed best. Ziegler, S.G. (1987). Comparison of imagery styles and past experience in skUls perfonnance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 579-586. Is the Sky the Limit? Should one set goals that are within reach or should goals be higher than one could ever achieve? The purpose of this study was to determine if unrealistically high goals will in fact produce performance decrements in a physical education activity setting when compared to more realistic goals. In Experiment 1, subjects (A^=30) were matched by presit-up assessment scores and randomly assigned to one of three goal-setting conditions: easy goals, moderately difficult goals, and very difficult goals. The task was 3-min timed sit-ups. Every Monday and Wednesday the subjects practiced, and an assessment session was held each Friday for 5 weeks. A 3 X 5 repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted resulting in a significanttrials effect, p < .001, indicating that all subjects improved over time. Zeroorder correlations calculated to determine the relationship between subjects' own weekly goals and performance yielded a significant positive relationship, r = .84,;? < .001. Questionnaire results indicated that all subjects accepted their assigned goal and were intending to try very hard to reach their goal. Those in the very difficult goal group perceived their goal as significantly more difficult than those in the easy group. In Experiment 2, subjects (A^= 123) were randomly assigned to one of the following conditions: very hard goals, highly improbable goals, 60% increase, and "do your best" goals. A 3 X 4 repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant trials main effect, indicating that subjects improved over trials. No other significant effects emerged. Zero-order correlations were calculated which showed a strong relationship between subjects' weekly goals and performances, r = .92, /? < .001. Questionnaire results indicated that 94% of the subjects accepted the assigned goals with no differences across goal conditions. Also, there were no significant differences between goal conditions on how much effort subjects believed they would expend to reach the goals. Subjects in the highly improbable goal group and very hard goal group perceived their goals as significantly more difficult than subjects in the "do your best" goal group. Although the most difficult condition did not significantly differ from the other groups, it did consistently produce the highest levels of performance. The authors conclude that goal attainability may not be a prerequisite for performance improvement. Weinberg, R., Bruya, L., Jackson, A., & Garland, H. (1987). Goal difficulty and endurance performance: A challenge to the goal attainability assumption. Joumal of Sport Behavior, 10, 82-92.