Archers with a stronger goal orientation score higher in competition

2 studies · 122 archers measured

Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

The link with the score rests on a single Turkish study of 116 archers at the national indoor championship. Using the task and ego orientation questionnaire, the author splits the archers into two groups, and the 82 with the higher orientation average 560 points in competition against 432 for the 34 with the lower (t = 2.85, p < 0.05). The finding is fragile for several reasons: the groups are built by adding the two orientations together, which the theory keeps apart; the championship was for adults and juniors together, and the paper does not say which divisions and age classes the archers in each group came from; the standard deviations are missing and the regression statistics do not agree with one another. The only other data on archers, six members of the Taiwanese Olympic team in 2004, show both orientations rising after a psychology programme, but say nothing about the score. Finally, the Turkish study's journal has questionable editorial standards: the registry reports it but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Also phrased as: "task and ego orientation"; "results orientation"; "motivation and score"; "goal-oriented archers"; "achievement goal theory"

In practice

It is often said that the archer who knows where they want to get to, and measures themselves against clear goals, does better in competition than one who shoots for the pleasure of it.

Evidence

2008
Context Archers Published later

6 members of the Taiwanese Olympic archery team followed for eighteen months before Athens 2004: after the psychology programme task and ego orientation scores both rise, while the motivation subscale of the psychological skills inventory does not improve. No link with the score.

Provision of sport psychology services to Taiwan archery team for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games · Tsung‐Min Hung, Tse‐Chuan Lin, Chia‐Ling Lee, Ling‐Chun Chen
2018
Context Archers Published later

Venue with questionable editorial standards: this result does not count towards the status. 116 archers at the Turkish adult and junior indoor championship fill in the task and ego orientation questionnaire (13 items) before competing; a cluster analysis splits them into 82 with high orientation and 34 with low, and the former average 560.15 points in competition against 431.8 (t = 2.849, p < 0.05). Standard deviations are not reported, and the groups are built on both orientations taken together.

The Impact of Pre-Competition Estimated Results for Elite Archers on Performance According to Achievement Goal Theory Questionable venue · Utku Isik
2018
Context Archers Published later

In the same study, among the 82 archers with high orientation the score predicted before competing is associated with the actual one (B = 0.986, p = 0.002; stated R² 0.305), while among the 34 with low orientation it is not (p = 0.494). The table's statistics do not agree with one another: a beta of 1.659 is impossible, 0.603 squared would give 0.364, and with 82 archers and that R² the F would be close to 35, not 4.17.

The Impact of Pre-Competition Estimated Results for Elite Archers on Performance According to Achievement Goal Theory Questionable venue · Utku Isik

Status history

1990 Not studied In the registry's bibliography nobody had yet measured archers' goal orientation, let alone set it beside their scores.
2008 Not studied The first data on archers' orientation appear: in the six members of the Taiwanese Olympic team prepared for Athens 2004, task and ego orientation both rise after eighteen months of psychological work. It is an applied report, with no control group, and it does not relate orientation to the score: on this card's question there is still nothing.
2018 Not studied The first link with the score arrives: 116 archers at the Turkish indoor championship, split into two groups by the orientation questionnaire, and the 82 more strongly oriented average 560 points against 432 (p < 0.05). The groups add together two orientations the theory keeps apart, adults and juniors are mixed and the statistics do not add up. The journal has questionable editorial standards: the registry reports the study but does not use it to decide the status, which remains not studied.

Research lines

Cite

APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Archers with a stronger goal orientation score higher in competition (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/goal-orientation-competition-score

BibTeX

@misc{campagna2026_orientamentoobiettivipunteggio,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Archers with a stronger goal orientation score higher in competition},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/goal-orientation-competition-score},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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