Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains a teaching tool for research methods courses on undergraduate and postgraduate coaching programs, as well as being a resource for more developed coaching researchers. It explores: helping coaching students to appreciate the importance of developing an understanding of this area; introducing key topics, issues, and concepts in a discipline-specific way; encouraging coaching researchers to give greater consideration towards research methods. The book seeks to introduce readers to a range of philosophical stances, quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, as well as forms of representation and dissemination. It addresses a number of issues that we believe that coaching researchers may wish to contemplate during the initial phase of a research project. The book focuses on the quantitative investigation of coaching.