Motivation in young archers: Oktafiranda 2021

In May 2021 the 12 archers at the Jakarta provincial student sports centre (PPOP DKI Jakarta) filled in an achievement motivation questionnaire on their phones, measuring their drive to get results. The mean score was 82.08 (median 82, standard deviation 6.473), with values from 72 to 94.

The authors split the group into three bands and count 3 in the high band, 6 in the middle and 3 in the low, and so conclude that the centre's archers have, on the whole, moderate motivation. Across the questionnaire's six indicators, most archers fall in the low band for personality (10 of 12), training method (8 of 12) and the social aspect (8 of 12); for sporting achievement 6 of 12 are in the high band, for rewards 10 of 12 in the middle band, and for facilities the answers are spread across the three bands (5 high, 4 middle, 3 low).

This is a descriptive snapshot of one group at one moment: there is no comparison with other athletes and no link with shooting scores.

PPOP brings together selected student athletes from Jakarta province. The questionnaire went to every registered archer who had been training for at least a year and had already competed, with no sampling: there were 12. Responses were collected with a Google form at the Ragunan sports hall in south Jakarta.

The closed questionnaire, whose origin is not stated, is built around six indicators: personality, achievement, facilities, training method, social aspect and rewards, with positively and negatively worded statements. The analysis consists of adding up scores, working out means and percentages and placing each archer in a band. The paper does not give the response scale, the athletes' ages, the type of bow, or any test of the questionnaire's reliability or validity.

Twelve archers and a questionnaire of unstated origin, with no reliability testing: even at best the study describes only that group. But the numbers themselves do not hold up. The banding table puts those scoring 94 or more in the high band, those between 72 and 94 in the middle band, and those scoring '72 or more' in the low band, a definition that overlaps the others. The highest score is 94 and the frequency table shows only one archer above 92, so the 3 in the high band cannot come from that threshold. The conclusion is inconsistent too: the discussion says most archers are in the low band, while citing 25%.

There are further discrepancies. The questionnaire outline lists 17 statements numbered up to 21, while the discussion states 18. For facilities the text says most archers are in the middle band, but the figures given put 5 in the high band and 4 in the middle.

For anyone who shoots the study changes nothing. It does not say whether the more motivated archers shot better, follows nobody over time and tests no intervention; even the bands meant to separate high, moderate and low motivation are defined inconsistently. The finding that answers on personality, training method and the social side fall mostly in the low band may interest that centre's coaches as a starting point for a conversation with the young archers, not as a measure to use anywhere else.