Investigating Effective Factors in the Development of Information System of Athletes' Psychological Faculties

The present study was designed and conducted to investigate the factors affecting the development of the information system of athletes' psychological abilities. The method of the present research was applied in terms of purpose and in terms of method, based on data retrieval, was of a mixed nature (qualitative and quantitative). The statistical population of the present study in the qualitative section included university professors specializing in the field of sports psychology as well as professors in the field of research (psychological capabilities of athletes and information systems) who had undertaken at least two research studies (in the form of books, research articles, conference papers, research projects, translations, etc.), and elite athletes studying at the Islamic Azad University of the country. The number of identified professors was 45 and the number of identified athletes was 30. All of these individuals were contacted and asked to participate in the research. Of these, 61 announced their readiness. Initially, after interviewing 11 of the participants, there was a theoretical saturation. However, due to the certainty of the results, two more interviews were conducted. Finally, interviews were conducted with 13 people. Then, in the quantitative part, the same community as the qualitative part was considered and questionnaires were distributed among 61 participants. The data collection tools in the present study were a semi-structured interview and a researcher-made questionnaire. Qualitative results of the study showed that 26 characteristics were extracted through interviews which were classified into 5 factors including technical, scientific, regulatory, educational and personal. The results showed that the technical factor was the most important factor in the development of the information system of psychological abilities of athletes. According to the results of the present study, it is recommended to classify psychological information as well as protect athletes' psychological information. Building trust in the information system of athletes' psychological capabilities provides the ground for the application of this system.