Volunteer Bias and Female Participation in Exercise and Sports Science Research

Abstract

In 1973, Harriet Williams published in Quest on volunteer bias (selfselection bias) in kinesiology research. Williams' evidence-based commentary included a discussion on sex differences in volunteerism. More recently, some exercise and sports scientists (ESS) have suggested investigator bias explains the lower proportion of female than male participants in ESS research. Here, I explain volunteer bias warrants consideration in contemporary discussions on female participation in ESS research. I discuss sex differences in willingness to participate in certain research and how this corresponds to sex differences in personality traits and interests. I explain that sex differences in disease prevalence and physical activity participation also likely contribute to sex differences in ESS research participation. I conclude that, moving forward, evidence-based historical interpretations of female participation in ESS research are required, and future research should seek to establish a causal model of ESS research participation that considers both investigator and volunteer bias.

Physiological Responses to Low-Volume Interval Training in Women

“…Reasons for the lower representation of women as participants in exercise research studies [ 14 – 16 ] are numerous and complex and may include investigator-driven decisions and sex-based differences in willingness to participate [ 142 , 143 ]. Regardless, more research in women is needed that evaluates the impact of population characteristics (e.g., age, presence of chronic disease, menopausal status), methodology utilized to assess outcomes (e.g., type of graded exercise test protocol to determine CRF), and intervention variables (e.g., length of training period, variations in the interval exercise protocol, progression of training load) on physiological responses to low-volume interval training, as these factors may have influenced the conclusions discussed herein.…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of reactivity to digital in-the-moment measurement of health behaviour

“…Although not all participants might necessarily have the intention to change behaviour when they enrol in the study, participants of healthrelated studies often are more health-conscious than the population average due to selfselection bias (also referred to as volunteer bias, see e.g. Haynes & Robinson (86) and Nuzzo (87) for discussions) and thus may also be more likely to have the intention to change their behaviour in line with recommendations. Thus, researchers might need to assess intention to change behaviour and introduce this variable as a covariate in the analysis to investigate potential intra-individual differences in measurement reactivity that may arise from differences in intention.…”

Potential Long-Term Health Problems Associated with Ultra-Endurance Running: A Narrative Review

“…There are limited data on female UER owing to reduced female participation [ 2 , 203 ], possibly lesser interest in volunteering for applied research [ 204 ], and possibly because of exclusion of female subjects on the (sometimes erroneous) basis that menstrual phase might confound the physiological response [ 205 ]. Nevertheless, a recent review highlighted several key aspects of female athlete physiology that warrant careful consideration in periodized UER training plan [ 122 ].…”