Data Collection Tools

The athletes were submitted to a pre-test (laboratory tests and echocardiography) to detect the potential risk of cardiovascular diseases that could impair their performance during the research. This was carried out together with the Rainer Jung Rehabilitation Centre, working in cooperation with the IFS. A copy of the protocol used for conducting the clinical examinations of the athletes can be found in Appendix B.

6.4.2 Physiological Records

The IFS provides excellent facilities and in particular, a laboratory equipped with a high-performance ergometric treadmill (ET) with a pulley system for cardiopulmonary exercise testing and

analysis, suitable for the purpose of assessing oxygen consumption for wheelchair (WC) dependent users.The principal piece of equipment provided in the laboratory is theSATURN 300-125R treadmill (hp cosmos sports & medical gmbh, Nussdorf-Traunstein, Germany). This device is located in a central position of the room and is set at ground level, therefore having the advantage of being very accessible for the tests conducted with WC athletes. The treadmill is mounted in such a way that the operating systems (mechanical and hydraulic) are located below floor level. The operating speed range for the treadmill is from 0-40km/h (0-11.1m/s), although the stress test performed for this research was made at a constant speed of 2m/s.

The pulley system is a device external to the ET that must be connected to the WC via a rope, making it possible to measure the force from 10W to 300W (Niklas, 1987; Vanlandewijck, 2001). A rail is fixed to the wall behind the WC and the pulleys are mounted on this rail in two different axes.

The rope that is attached to the WC is guided by two pulleys. The load at the rope end can be increased (i.e. 20W each 3 minutes) during the course of the exercise.

Two computers were used during the experiments with both using specific software for their purpose: a desktop computer with an interface for control of the treadmill; a laptop computer for monitoring the spiroergometry. Additional equipment used included a spiroergometer, model Metamax 3B (Cortex Biophysik GmbH, Leipzig, Germany), portable electrocardiograph 3-channel EKG AT-4 (Schiller AG, Switzerland) and a lactate analyser SCOUT (SensLab GmbH, Leipzig, Germany). The sit-ski athletes performed the test, appropriately dressed, and using their own personal WCs, whereas the stand skiers used an ergometric bicycle. In both cases the athletes used a heart rate frequency meter, Polar^® HR Set (Polar Electro Oy HQ, Kempele, Finland).

The laboratory has a computerised system of control for the treadmill and there is also a data processing program to maximise the use of the equipment. The spiroergometer used in the experiment is robust and mobile. The method Breath-by-Breath was used and some principal characteristics of the equipment can be found as a Table in the Annex 5 (Metamax).

6.4.3 Aerodynamic Test Records

The TUHH has a wind tunnel (WT) of large dimensions and low velocity, providing excellent facilities for the analysis of human aerodynamic performance in sport. The main equipment provided by the laboratory is the wind tunnel which is operated in a closed circuit, called the "Göttingen” mode.

The dimensions of the test section are 5m in length, 2m in height and 3m width, and it is positioned approximately 2m above the floor level of the laboratory. The operational speed range for the wind tunnel is from 0-40 m/s (0-144 km/h), although the test was conducted at a maximum velocity of 30m/s (108 km/h).

Positioned below the floor of the WT testing section is a scale, an instrument for measuring the force applied to the athletes during testing. It is an external device to the WT, which provided the facility of being able to attach skis to it, enabling the force to be measured along three different axes.

The skis were secured to a wooden plate, which supported the equipment whilst at the same time preventing their movement during testing. This wooden plate was in turn attached to the balance that provided the measure of force applied to the athletes. The athletes conducted the test using their own skis (mono or double) and dressed appropriately for the situation.

The laboratory has a computerized control system, together with a data processing program to maximise the use of the equipment. Three computers were used during the experiment: 2 desktop computers with an interface for controlling the WT and recording the force applied to the athletes; 1 laptop on which to record and sort the photographs.

6.4.4 Medical History

In qualitative research, the interview represents one of the basic instruments for the collection of information, together with observation (Molina Neto, 1995/1999). In this study a medical history was taken which lasted about twenty minutes for each athlete and took place in a separate hall from the physiological laboratory. The types of question addressed were focused and closed questions. The list of questions used for the medical history can be found in Appendix D.

The structure of the medical history questions for this study were organised in a manner that would gain the most information about each participant and their life story. The information collected included what was diagnosed from a clinical, physical, motor and behavioural point of view, as well as their personal experiences of their disability and the sport of alpine skiing in which they had chosen to compete.

All records were presented to each study participant after completion of their case history so they could read their responses. This strategy was used to try and guarantee that the recorded answers corresponded exactly to the information provided at the time of the interview. It was emphasised to the respondents when adopting this procedure that they could modify their statement if they deemed it at all necessary. Final analysis of case histories was made by the researcher, enabling him to formulate personal comments relevant to each athlete.

When organising the theoretical core of the study, it was realised from the literature search relevant to the evaluative process of Paralympic Alpine Skiing that more studies were found related to biomechanical aspects of skiing and physiological aspects related to other forms of sport.

Aerodynamic tests with skiers had also already been done although with Olympic athletes (Bendig, 1975; Watanabe, 1977). However, very little was found in the review related to the evaluation process and training of Paralympic Alpine Skiers. Although there are a few publications about cardiopulmonary performance for the Paralympic Alpine Skiing sport, we sought to conduct the tests using wheelchairs and an ergometric bicycle with the athletes of the DPS in order to organise hard data for the athletes evaluated in the laboratory.

Therefore, in this investigation, we stayed with the clinical, physiological, physical, postural and personal perceptual records collected through the questionnaires, to establish interpretations of the

developmental continuum for each of the DPS athletes. The sum of these factors was what gave support to our findings and to the limitations also suggested by a study of this nature.

6.4.5 Photographic and Video Records

Photographic records were used as a strategy for documenting the development of the study participants in different contexts over the course of the evaluative sessions. Our concern was to organise them into individual photographic albums registering the session to which they related. This feature was used primarily as a plan for gathering information associated to the postures presented in the wind tunnel tests. However, it was also used to document spontaneous situations as the camera was inserted into the routines of the sessions as another means of interacting with the environment in which the athletes were being evaluated. As many pictures as were deemed necessary were taken so that these could form a good photographic collection for the study. Insufficient resources to cover all sessions of the study meant that video recordings were made for only the sit skiers’ assessments during the first evaluative session. The equipment was positioned to the side of the treadmill and the filming was focused on the motor performance and posture aspects of those evaluated. Although we were unable to make a record of all the athletes involved, the footage that was taken was of great value in supporting the description and analysis of the data collected during the investigation process. Also, it allowed us to conduct the exercise of observation and description of what we saw or were able to observe, being used more as a resource for allowing a subsequent review of the scenes that escaped our perception at the time of the evaluation process itself.

In the fourth session, video footage was recorded by a professional team of journalists from the German Aerospace Centre with the undertaking of recording images of the progress of the work.

This presented the opportunity to have access to a recording of an evaluation session made from the pre-determined agenda of a film taken for journalistic purposes, giving material edited from another perspective of a broader scenario rather than the usual assessment of the athletes, constituting an unusual and interesting addition to the study.

6.4.6 Observations and Strategies for Recording Observations

The observations became an important tool for the collection of data in this study. According to Negrine (1998), effective observation should have some basic principles, such as:

 The more descriptive it is, the better the information analysis will be;

 The records must not contain value judgements;

 The depth of observations can provide sufficient information to conduct analysis and interpretation of the data.

For this study and bearing in mind the above recommendations, the process of observation was carried out in the following way: The researcher assumed the role of a passive observer for the

first session only during the process of research information collection, subsequently changing in role to that of active observer for the remaining sessions.

When acting as passive observer, the researcher did not participate in the events but only observed and recorded things as they occurred. His participation was passive, that is, he did not direct or personally take part in the session, though he could at times interact with the group. The observation strategy for the different experimental sessions was to selectively observe, where the observer closely monitored the subject being evaluated in the session and described the whole trajectory of the observed participant at that moment.

Negrine (1999) states that from observation guidelines created through some basic questions, situations emerge that can be observed and that are closely related to the research being conducted. At the same time, it should be reduced or enlarged according to the wishes of the researcher, making the selective observation with pre-established aims. Records of the observations of the conducted sessions were made in a descriptive report before, during and after the end of each evaluation.

As an active observer, together with the entire technical team, the researcher assumed the role of facilitator and observer. As soon as observations of the focus group were completed, it was wanted to compare the data collected with that from the literature, which proved not to be an easy task due to difficulty in finding literature in this area. Only after making comparisons with this data could a critique of these evaluation practices be commenced.

6.4.7 Questionnaire

The questionnaires were structured and the questions were objective, closed and focused in a multiple choice form. There were a few open questions in order to facilitate the ease of participant response. A copy of the question list used and the answers from the can be found in introduction of the results. The questionnaires were submitted in advance to the athletes, trainers and medical team by electronic means, so they could familiarise themselves with the format. Subsequently, the questionnaires were completed immediately before and after the evaluation sessions 3 and 4 at the locale where the tests were being conducted. All study participants that were in the 2^nd campaign took part and responded to the questionnaires, demonstrating their degree of involvement in the process and the trust they held in the researcher.

The structure of the questions was organised in order to obtain the most information relevant to the personal perceptions of the participants from the evaluations completed regarding training, the physiological and aerodynamic evaluations, the sport in which they compete, their expectations of alpine skiing and training, competitions and quality of life.

The units of meaning and analysis categories, which were also presented to the athletes indirectly through the questionnaire and throughout the entire study, enabled analysis of the collected data. After conducting the final analysis of the applied questionnaires, the researcher was able to

formulate personal comments for each of the athletes involved, taking into consideration the perception of the athlete, the trainer, and also the researcher himself.

6.4.8 Analysis of Competition Video and Documentaries

The video recordings directly related to alpine ski competitions helped greatly in the observation and analysis of the postural performance of the athletes involved, allowing the researcher to better reflect on the direction to be taken for this investigative process. The recordings used refer to the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships of 2011 that took place in Italy (Sestriere).

Some documentaries were found relating specifically to the area of training for Paralympic athletes. Given the substantial content presented by these and as such the importance of some of the statements provided during the course of the documentaries, this motivated in some cases the making of a transcript of the theoretical content of the program. These documentaries were produced mostly by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) network in London in partnership with research bodies and scientists from various British universities and hospitals, and are specified in the bibliographic reference of this work.