Browsing by Author "Mielonen, Teemu"

The purpose of this thesis was to examine goal orientations and motivational climate in professional ice hockey. Previous studies show that, on average, all study groups, regardless of age, sport, level or gender, were more task-oriented compared to ego-orientation, although field of sports can be considered ego-oriented. We wanted to examine the validity and conceptual accuracy of the most used measuring instruments of goal orientation theory (TEOSQ and POSQ) and motivational climate (PMCSQ-2). In addition, we want to find out which things are important in the motivational climate and also, whether quantitative instruments offer a more task-oriented picture of athletes' motivation compared to a qualitative examination. For this thesis, six professional ice hockey players were interviewed, whose average age at the time of the interview was 27 years. Three of the players have played in the NHL and four have represented Finland in the world championships. All interviewees have played at Finland's highest level in the Liiga. The material for the thesis was collected by interviewing. The interview consisted of a themed and structured interview parts. In addition, quantitative data was collected from the players. The collected interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data were examined for averages and standard deviations, as well as the relation of quantitative answers to qualitative answers. Found main themes were Effort and improvement, Important Role and Winning. In addition to them, 16 subthemes were observed. An important role meant that the player got enough ice time. Ice time played a central role as something to be pursued and it found to be an ego-oriented phenomenon. Ice time and its distribution maintained a climate of comparison between the players. Taking it away was perceived as a punishment and increasing it as a reward. Distribution of ice time was also seemed to be a way to treat players unequally. An important role in the PMCSQ-2 instrument is supposed to be a task-oriented dimension, but it appears to be ego-oriented in this thesis. The questions from the TEOSQ and POSQ measured task orientation more evenly compared to ego-orientation. Winning was at the core of ego-orientation and trying one's best in the core of task-orientation. Most of the themes were ego-oriented: Two out of three of the main themes and nine out of sixteen of the sub-themes were ego-oriented. PMCSQ-2 almost completely ignores the ice time phenomenon. There is not a single question related to winning in the TEOSQ and only one in the POSQ. Significance of winning as an ego-oriented phenomenon cannot be examined thoroughly with studied measuring instruments.