Reliability and Validity of the Jumpster Accelerometer-Based App Compared to the Vertec When Completing a Countermovement Jump: An Examination of Field-Accessible Tools

The reliability and validity of the Jumpster app was assessed via a comparison to the Vertec during a countermovement jump. Using both tools simultaneously, 36 participants completed 100 total jump trials. Validity was assessed using correlation and tolerance analyses. Reliability was assessed using...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Matthew E. Holman, Christopher R. Harnish
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Applied Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/14/7768
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Summary:The reliability and validity of the Jumpster app was assessed via a comparison to the Vertec during a countermovement jump. Using both tools simultaneously, 36 participants completed 100 total jump trials. Validity was assessed using correlation and tolerance analyses. Reliability was assessed using 95% predictive intervals (PI<sub>95</sub>) and tolerance limits (TL<sub>95</sub>) between the measures, comparing the standard error of the measure (SEM) and coefficients of variation (CVs) for each tool and by examining the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 2,K; upper and lower 95% CI) comparing both tools. The Jumpster app was weakly related to the Vertec (<i>r</i> = 0.24; <i>p</i> < 0.01). The tolerance analysis showed a moderately strong proportional bias of the Jumpster app to the Vertec (<i>r</i> = 0.45; <i>p</i> < 0.01). While all data fell within the calculated PI<sub>95</sub> ± TL<sub>95</sub>, the Jumpster app SEM (14.7 cm) and CV (40.30%) exceeded the Vertec SEM (3.57 cm) and CV (7.22%), and the ICC was 0.55 [0.79, −0.08]. These results paired with an overall app failure rate of 15.97% indicate that the Jumpster app is neither reliable nor valid for measuring the countermovement jump.
ISSN:2076-3417