Using the Four Cornerstones model as a basis for referee performance (Mascarenhas, Mortimer & Collins, 2003) this programme of research aims to improve rugby-union referee performance by producing valid and reliable assessment and training tools that can be used to develop more coherent decision making. Classical decision making models would typically recommend decision makers assess a situation, formulate a range of alternatives, evaluate these against one another and finally choose the most appropriate course of action. However, whilst these models have been successful with more systematic and structured problems, the time pressure that referees experience make such prescriptive methods unworkable. As such, we have adapted research from fields such as military command, aviation and fire-fighting, all of which present similar environments to that which elite rugby union referees experience; ill-structured problems, complex, dynamic environments, often involving multiple decision makers and requiring rapid responses. This paradigm of research, known as naturalistic decision making (NDM) suggests the need for shared mental models of events in order to guide coherent decision making. The first study examined the efficacy of a video based assessment tool to gauge the accuracy and coherence of a national panel rugby union referee decisions. Results suggested that not only was this naturalistic method appropriate, but also that there were significant differences across different groups of referees, with the highest ranking referees showing the most coherence and the advisers revealing the lowest coherence scores. The second study used similar video scenarios to train a group of national panel referees, by verbalising the interpretations of the highest ranking referee and exposing a hierarchical weighting scale to the reasoning behind his decisions. Referees improved the accuracy in their decisions by up to 16%. The third study used focus group interviews, video case studies and a `think-aloud protocol` to explore the contextual factors that impact upon referees` application of law. Having revealed the level of processing that occurs at the elite level, with England`s top 5 full-time referees, turning their tacit knowledge into declarative knowledge provided developing referees with a contextual judgement training package (study 4). Finally, the effect of these training methods on the game was examined, and suggestions for future development in referee and naturalistic decision making research were discussed.
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