A review of open-ended and structured approaches to assessing youth sport motivation reveals that each has certain strengths and limitations. Hence, the method of choice for a particular study will depend upon the particular problem addressed. In order to examine the comparability of results obtained from different methodologies, a study was conducted to compare the results pertaining to factors underlying sport enjoyment obtained from open-ended and Thurstonian paired comparison inventories. Although a number of similarities appeared in the results across the two methodologies (e.g., personal accomplishment, excitement of the sport, and just doing the skills were important, while getting rewards and pleasing others were relatively unimportant), there were also some differences reflecting the particular methodologies. A consideration of previous research employing a broader variety of methodological approaches (open-ended, ranking, Likert scaling, Thurstone paired comparisons) further indicates that although the particular methodology utilized does affect the results obtained, certain important motivational factors tend to surface regardless of the methodology employed.