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Abstract
We present a video-based online training-tool (SET, for Schiedsrichter-Entscheidungs-Training, in German) for improving soccer referees’ decisions. We assume that referees’ decision-making in contact situations mainly relies on intuitive processing. For improving intuitive decisions, feedback on the correctness of decisions is essential; explanations are not required (Hogarth, Citation2008). Referees participating in SET watch videos, make decisions, and receive feedback. Evidence of the training's effectiveness was obtained in two experiments with soccer players and expert referees. Immediate feedback on the correctness of decisions without further explanations was sufficient for increasing decision accuracy. Results illustrate that SET is a promising tool for complementing referees’ training.
Acknowledgments
Development of the referee decision-making training tool, called SET for the German Schiedsrichter-Entscheidungs-Training, was supported by a joint grant (IIA1-071017/06-08) from Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft and Deutscher Fußball-Bund.
Notes
1. Instead of computing multiple cues people might rely on subsets of cues or even on single ones (Gigerenzer & Goldstein, Citation1996, Gigerenzer, Todd, & the ABC Research Group, Citation1999). The use of such fast-and-frugal-heuristics has also been proposed for decision making in sport (Bennis & Pachur, Citation2006). Some authors (Gilovich, Griffin, & Kahneman, Citation2002) interpret heuristics as examples of intuitive processing. Note that the concept of intuition as applied in this article does not share this view and understands heuristics rather as „shortcuts to deliberation “(Betsch, Citation2008, p. 9). For a discussion of this standpoint see Betsch (Citation2008).
2. SET is a German acronym for “Schiedsrichter-Entscheidungs-Training,” which translates into referee decision-making training tool. We use the acronym SET throughout the remainder of this article to refer to the described training program.
3. Computing simple effects tests instead of separate t tests leads to the same results (i.e., significance levels do not change).
4. Again, computing simple effects tests instead of separate t tests leads to the same results (i.e., significance levels do not change).