Self-Recording, Instructions, and Public Self-Graphing

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Abstract
This experiment systematically replicated a study by McKenzie and Rushall, who reported that a self-recording intervention enhanced swimming workout performance. In that study, anecdotal evidence suggested that reactive effects resulted at least partially from concomitant increases in coach prompting and praise. In the present study, young competitive swimmers self-recorded during 10-min sessions. Their coach observed but interacted with the swimmers only in a limited, scripted fashion. After a baseline condition in which negligible swimming occurred, instructions to perform, self-recording, and public self-graphing of self-recorded data were introduced in different conditions using a modified multiple-baseline (across-subjects) design. Instructions produced transient increases in swimming rates, whereas self-recording increased and maintained swimming above terminal rates in the instructions-only condition. The self-graphing condition produced no further rate increases but disrupted recording accuracy. The results suggest that direct reactive effects could have been present in McKenzie and Rushall's study and add to a body of literature indicating that reactivity can be independent of immediate social influences.