A narrative review of the application of the survey experiment in sports psychology: research design and method

Introduction: As a research paradigm integrating internal and external validity, the survey experiment method has been widely used in the humanities and social sciences. However, there is currently no research that provides a comprehensive summary of the application of survey experiment in sports psychology. Methods: In present study, we conducted a literature search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ELSEVIER and EBSCO from January 1st, 2001 to April 30th, 2025, using the following search terms of titles and abstracts: "Survey Experiment." Results: In total, 59 studies were included in the final review, after thoroughly reviewing all the studies, the current review addressed the following aspects using narrative method: the connotations and characteristics of survey experiment; the design of survey experiment; a case study on the design of survey experiment in sport psychology research; and the advantages of the Internet and big data in advancing survey experiment.