Deliberate Practice and Performance: A Meta- analysis

1. Deliberate Practice and Performance: A Meta-analysis Brooke N. Macnamara David Z. Hambrick Frederick L. Oswald Results Introduction 3 1 4 Additional Analyses Deliberate Practice View (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993) • Ericsson et al. claim that deliberate practice is necessary to become an expert--and add: “Our theoretical framework can also provide a sufficient account of the major facts about the nature and scarcity of exceptional performance. Our account does not depend on scarcity of innate ability (talent)…” (p. 392, emphasis added). • Inspiration for Gladwell’s “10,000-hour rule” 19% 81% Performance variance explained by deliberate practice Performance variance unexplained by deliberate practice By Domain • Method Conclusion 2 5 Sports Music Games Professions Education 3% < 1% 18% 24% 27% Deliberate practice… 76% > 99% 97% 73% 82% • Is not a sufficient explanation of performance variance • Importance varies by domain • Importance varies by predictability of the task environment • Small effects: systematically suppressed from publication Take-home message… Deliberate practice explains a substantial amount of performance variance, but leaves a much larger amount unexplained. Performance variance explained by deliberate practice Performance variance unexplained by deliberate practice By Predictability 10% 16% 23% 90% 84% 77% Would you like a copy of this poster? OR Do you have unpublished deliberate practice data you’re willing to share to be included in this meta-analysis? • scan Task Environment Less Predictable Highly Predictable • scan

2. Deliberate Practice Meta-analysis • Have unpublished deliberate practice data you would be willing to share? • If so, please email bmacnama@princeton.edu the following info in any format (e.g., dissertation, spreadsheet of data): • Names • your and your collaborator(s) full names so we can cite you and your data • General • Who were the participants? • How many participants (per group if multiple groups were used) • What was the skill of interest? • What was the timeframe of accumulated practice? • Methods • How did you estimate accumulated deliberate practice? (e.g., questionnaire, interview) • How did you estimate skill? (e.g., expert rated, compared professionals to amateurs) • Results or raw data • Results: what kind of statistics did you use? (e.g., ANOVA, correlation) • Results: what were the results of the analysis? (e.g., F = ___, Cohen’s d = ___, r = __) • Raw data: please let us know if each row = one subject • Raw data: please make sure columns are labeled clearly