Referees have a key role in elite sports competitions (Cruz, 1997; Dohmen and Sauermann, 2015). Officiating a match between two teams is a difficult task that is further complicated by the need to take decisions on a range of events that occur within a short space of time (Plessner, 2005; Mascarenhas and Smith, 2011). The decisions taken by referees can influence the unfolding of events during a match and even decide the outcome (Philippe et al., 2009). It is therefore important to analyze and improve referee performance in these contexts.

Good referees share certain qualities. They must be very knowledgeable about the rules of the game, have a good level of physical fitness, position themselves correctly on the court or pitch, have good visual and auditory acuity, and be highly motivated and capable of taking on-the-spot decisions and controlling their emotions (Weinberg and Richardson, 1990; Mascarenhas et al., 2005; Simmons, 2011). These qualities, can, however, be modified by various factors that can affect decision-making processes (Weston et al., 2012), such as previous experiences with teams and/or players and even player reputation and gender.

Refereeing in team handball is a complex task, as handball is a fast, physical game involving continuous contact and offensive and defensive actions (Souchon et al., 2009). To meet the demands of officiating a match and withstand the pressure generated by players, crowds, and critical moments, referees need to be sufficiently prepared, both psychologically and technically (Gimeno et al., 1998; Debanne, 2014). Insufficient preparation can lead to attention and concentration difficulties, doubts regarding decisions, increased anxiety levels, and a greater risk of making mistakes (Estrada and Pérez, 2008; Debanne, 2014).

Decision-making by handball players has received considerable attention in recent years, and numerous tools have been created to analyze what occurs in game situations (Luckwü and Guzmán, 2011; Martín et al., 2013; Loffing et al., 2015; Weigel et al., 2015; Helm et al., 2016). Tools have also emerged to analyze the activity of coaches, who have an important influence on match tactics and outcomes (Debanne and Fontayne, 2009; Debanne, 2014). There is, however, a need for reliable, accurate tools for analyzing the performance of handball referees, as very few have been developed (Souchon et al., 2009).

Research in this area has sought to identify different elements that can help to interpret decision-making in sport (Araujo et al., 2016). Systematic observation, for instance, offers a range of techniques for analyzing behavior in natural settings (González et al., 2013; Lapresa et al., 2013; Anguera and Hernández-Mendo, 2014; Sousa et al., 2014). Numerous studies have shown that observational methodology is an adequate methodology for analyzing behavior in sport (Anguera and Hernández-Mendo, 2013). It is (a) non-intrusive, (b) has a high level of ecological validity (i.e., it analyzes natural behaviors in natural settings), and (c) offers high analytical specificity through the construction of ad hoc observation instruments designed specifically for analyzing specific game situations in the environment in which they occur (Araujo, 2011, 2013; Pinder et al., 2011).

One technique that has shown great potential in this area in recent years is polar coordinate analysis (Sackett, 1980). It is among the most informative techniques (Araujo et al., 2016) and is particularly powerful when the concept of genuine retrospectivity is applied (Anguera, 1997). Recent years have seen a rapid uptake of polar coordinate analysis in the field of Sports Sciences, where it has been used to analyze a range of sports, including soccer, tennis, and handball (Castellano et al., 2007; Perea et al., 2012; Morillo and Hernández-Mendo, 2015; Morillo et al., 2015; Castañer et al., 2016; López et al., 2016; Santoyo et al., 2017; Tarragó et al., 2017).

To analyze decisions taken in sport, it is necessary to analyze the different actions that occur during a game (Pinder et al., 2011). Polar coordinate analysis is a suitable technique for identifying and helping to understand these actions. Prudente et al. (2017), for example, used this technique to show how playing time influenced tactical decisions made by handball players. Polar coordinate analysis has also been used in beach volleyball to identify erroneous behaviors in relation to passes and receptions (Morillo et al., 2015). Finally, the technique has been successfully applied to analyzing tactical decisions taken in track events.

Polar coordinate analysis is a powerful technique that reduces the volume of data to be processed without losing important information. It is used to identify significant relationships between a behavior of interest, known as the focal behavior, and other behaviors, known as conditional behaviors, and presents these in an easy-to-interpret vector format (Hernández-Mendo and Anguera, 1998; Anguera and Losada, 1999; Gorospe and Anguera, 2000). The technique involves using adjusted residuals derived from sequential analysis (z scores) to calculate Z_sum statistics (Z_sum = ∑z/√n) (Cochran, 1954). This computation is possible, as both the frequency of the focal behavior (n) and the Z scores for each of the lags considered are known. These Z scores are independent of each other, as they are computed using the binomial test, which compares observed probabilities (corresponding to textual units derived from observation of the teachers' discourse) with expected probabilities (chance occurrences). The relationship between the focal behavior and the conditional behaviors is estimated using the angle of the resulting vector, while the strength is estimated using the vector radius (Anguera et al., 1997; Castellano and Hernández-Mendo, 2003). A crucial component of polar coordinate analysis is that its powerful data reduction feature permits the consideration of both retrospective and prospective perspectives. In other words, it shows what happens before and after the behavior of interest.

Given the scarcity of tools available for analyzing the activity of handball referees, the main aim of this study was to design a tool that could be used to objectively analyze referee behavior and performance in competition situations. A second aim was to test the tool using data from three matches at the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship held in Spain.

As we used an observation instrument that combined field formats with category systems, the observational design was multidimensional (Morillo et al., 2015; Prudente et al., 2017). The specific design was follow-up/idiographic/multidimensional, which fits into quadrant I of the systematic observation designs described by Anguera et al. (2011).

We have presented a new tool for observing, coding, and analyzing the actions of referees in handball competitions. Although decisions made by referees are influenced by contextual factors (Debanne, 2014), the ad hoc observation instrument described in this study was designed to provide an objective means of recording, describing, and analyzing actions taken by handball referees according to their role and position on the court. While observational methodology has been used to analyze handball, studies to date have focused on game situations from the players' perspective (González et al., 2013; Sousa et al., 2014).

The reliability, generalizability, and correlation results in the data quality control analysis attest to the suitability of the data obtained. The observation instrument thus would appear to be an adequate tool for obtaining reliable datasets for performing sequential and other analyses of the performance of court and goal-line referees during handball competitions. In this respect, it is similar to observation instruments designed for other sports, such as soccer (Sarmento et al., 2010), basketball (Garzón et al., 2011), waterpolo (Santos et al., 2014), and beach handball (Morillo and Hernández-Mendo, 2015). A recent study by Araujo et al. (2016) addressed the issue of decision-making in sport and argued that the use of observation to analyze specific actions and behaviors could provide complementary insights into this complex process. The conceptual vector maps presented in this study show how the referees responded to events based on their use of the whistle. The instrument presented has numerous applications. It could be used, for example, to identify streams of behavior or specific actions that cause greater difficulties for referees or situations that are prone to more error, regardless of level of physical fitness. Handball refereeing has been reported to require moderate levels of fitness and does not appear to be limited by aerobic capacity (Fernandes da Silva et al., 2010).

Most of the correct calls were made from the central court position. This is logical, as court referees are generally responsible for making more calls than goal-line referees and have to deal with less conflictive situations. Goal-line referees, by contrast, have to deal with multiple interactions in short spaces of time and are therefore more likely to make incorrect calls, even though they use their whistle less. We also found that the referees observed made a high percentage of correct calls. Seven-meter throw fouls, for example, were correctly called by the right referee (the goal-line referee) in all cases. This again is logical, as fouls of this type are generally the responsibility of the referee at the end of the court and are rarely called by the court referee.

Handball, unlike other sports such as basketball, does not use instant-replay or similar technology to facilitate the work of referees. The installation of court-side cameras to watch instant or near-instant replays of dubious play or the use of goal-line sensors to check whether or not the ball completely crossed the goal-line could lead to interesting improvements in the game. Such measures, however, also have drawbacks. The technology is costly and perhaps should only be considered for elite competitions. In addition, the use of these systems could hurt the credibility of referees and cause them to lose confidence in their calls, particularly in the case of less experienced referees. Novice referees have been found to perform less well than “expert referees” with greater knowledge, experience, and expert memory (Abdeddaim et al., 2016).

More studies of decision-making by handball referees are needed to assess the possible advantages of redistributing responsibilities and zones between both referees and even perhaps of using a third referee in areas with high error rates. Our study highlights some limitations that could be overcome in future studies. It would be interesting, for example, to analyze more areas of the court and to divide the court into specific zones to analyze the actions of referees according to the number of players on the court at a given time and the position of the defense. The distribution of responsibilities is more complicated in open and man-to-man defences, as it is less clear in such cases who is responsible for calling what. It is also complicated to determine whether a referee chose not to make a call or decided to apply the advantage rule, as there are no official hand signals for this decision. The rules do, however, specify that referees should refrain from interrupting the game prematurely to allow continuity of play where possible. Accordingly, there may be some overlap between application of the advantage rule and errors of omission.

Although some research has already been done on how player gender can influence decision-making by referees in handball (Souchon et al., 2010), more work in this area is necessary. Finally, it would be interesting to analyze different championships over time to monitor the influence of new rules and regulations and changes in refereeing practice and performance.

AH, VM and RR: design of the work; acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data for the work. JM: acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data for the work; AM: acquisition and analysis of data for the work. All authors: Drafting the work or revising, final approval of the version and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.