Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire [TEOSQ-13]

Description

The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ-13) is a psychometric instrument designed to assess two major forms of achievement orientation in sport: Task Orientation and Ego Orientation. It was developed by Duda and Nicholls and is widely used to examine how athletes define and interpret success and failure.

Task Orientation refers to a focus on personal improvement, learning, effort, and skill development, whereas Ego Orientation emphasizes social comparison, recognition, and outperforming others.

Purpose

The main purpose of the TEOSQ-13 is to assess the extent to which athletes are oriented toward personal mastery and task accomplishment or toward demonstrating superiority over others.

The questionnaire may be used to:

• identify athletes’ preferred approaches to training and competition,
• better understand motivational patterns and attitudes,
• help coaches and sport psychologists adapt training and support strategies,
• investigate relationships between goal orientations, performance, psychological well-being, and satisfaction with sport participation.

Dimensions

The TEOSQ-13 includes two main dimensions:

• Task Orientation: success is associated with effort, learning, personal progress, and improvement in performance.
• Ego Orientation: success is evaluated primarily through social comparison, recognition, and superiority over other athletes.

These two dimensions provide complementary information about how athletes perceive achievement in sport.

Data Analysis and Use

TEOSQ-13 data are collected through self-report, with participants rating statements related to their attitudes toward sport and achievement.

Analysis may include:

• reliability analysis, such as Cronbach’s alpha,
• factor analysis, to confirm the two-dimensional structure of the questionnaire,
• correlation analysis, to examine associations with variables such as self-confidence, satisfaction, and other psychological factors.

The results may also support the development of educational or intervention programs aimed at promoting more adaptive attitudes toward sport achievement.

Psychometric Evaluation

Psychometric evaluation of the TEOSQ-13 may include examination of the internal consistency of the two dimensions, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and cross-validation across different populations.

These procedures are used to assess the stability of the questionnaire’s structure and the generalizability of its results across different sporting and cultural contexts.

Applications

The TEOSQ-13 may be used in sport psychology, coaching, physical education, and achievement motivation research.

Its use can help clarify how athletes define success, support the development of an appropriate motivational climate, and contribute to interventions that promote effort, learning, and a positive sporting experience.

References

Duda, J. L., & Nicholls, J. G. (1992). Dimensions of goal orientation in schoolwork and sport. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 290–299.

Duda, J. L. (2001). Achievement goal theory in sport: Recent advances and future directions. In R. N. Singer, H. A. Hausenblas, & C. M. Janelle (Eds.), Handbook of Sport Psychology (pp. 417–442). Wiley.

Treasure, D. C., & Roberts, G. C. (2001). The development of goal orientation and its relationship to motivational climate in youth sport. Journal of Sports Sciences, 19(4), 207–216.