Using the Critical Incident Technique to explore situational emotional labor in sport psychology: methodological proposals

Oriane Petiot^1*Gilles Kermarrec¹Jean-François Desbiens²Jérôme Visioli¹

• ¹Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France
• ²Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada

Interventions in sport settings involve intense emotional labor (i.e., effort to adjust emotional responses to professional expectations). This has mainly been explored using quantitative, person-centered approaches that identify general trends. Over the past decades, however, the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) has attracted increasing attention in psychological research as an effective innovative tool for examining emotional labor during crucial circumscribed situations. Following a presentation of the CITs origins and development across different sport fields (e.g., elite sport, physical education), the aim of this article is to put forward CIT-based methodological proposals for analyzing sport interveners' situational emotional labor. More precisely, we outline two primary data collection modes using questionnaires and interviews. Each approach offers distinct advantages according to the research objectives, context, and participant accessibility. The paper also includes guidelines for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of critical incidents by suggesting how data can be thematically coded and statistically analyzed. In terms of data representation, this article focuses on juxtaposing participant quotes within shared thematic categories and introduces "creative non-fiction" as an innovative narrative technique, presenting data as structured monologues that preserve the authenticity of the participants' own voices. Finally, the present article outlines future research directions, emphasizing the relevance of the CIT in observational and interventional studies aimed at better understanding and supporting emotional labor among sport interveners. In the case of observational studies, four main future research avenues can be explored by: (a) validating a psychometric scale capable of assessing emotional labor during critical incidents across large samples; (b) developing longitudinal observatories to enable long-term tracking of emotional labor; (c) adopting a collective approach to emotional labor by incorporating multiple actors' points of view during a same critical incident; and (d) deepening understanding of the relationships between emotional experience and emotional regulation during critical incidents. As for interventional studies, a training program designed to develop adaptive and flexible emotional regulation through CIT use is presented. This program would benefit from being implemented and evaluated, again using the CIT, to reveal its effects on participants.