# Justifications for Judgment Accuracy in Sports

## TL;DR

The study explores why some students are better at judging their sports performance than others, finding that knowledge and focus on process matter more than outcome.

## Contribution

It identifies that declarative and procedural knowledge, not metacognition alone, differentiate accurate from inaccurate self-assessment in sports.

## Key findings

- Low accuracy students lacked declarative and procedural knowledge compared to high accuracy students.
- Both groups used metacognitive skills, but low accuracy students focused more on outcomes than processes.
- Improving access to theoretical and experience-based cues could enhance performance judgment accuracy.

## Abstract

This study investigated the causes of incorrect judgments in a motor task and examined differences between students with varying levels of judgment accuracy. Twenty-two seventh graders participated. Based on their estimated and actual scores in two volleyball serve trials, students were categorized into two groups: “low accuracy” and “high accuracy”. Before each trial, they estimated their scores according to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance test. Following the trials, students were interviewed about their justifications and their confidence in the accuracy of their judgments. Independent sample t-tests indicated that both “low accuracy” and “high accuracy” students appeared to use metacognitive skills (t(20) = 0.82, p > 0.05). However, the “low accuracy” group lacked the declarative and procedural knowledge (t(20) = 4.59, p < 0.001) necessary for accurately evaluating their performance. Findings suggest that students focused more on outcome-based rather than process-based assessments when evaluating their performance. Enhancing students’ access to both theoretical and experience-based cues in sports may improve their ability to accurately judge their performances and foster greater confidence in lifelong participation in physical activities.