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This part is concerned with six forms of data collection and the process of sampling, which is relevant to all empirical methods. The chapters are:
Chapter 7 Secondary data sources;
Chapter 8 Observation;
Chapter 9 Qualitative methods: introduction and data collection;
Chapter 10 Questionnaire surveys: typology, design and coding;
Chapter 11 Experimental methods;
Chapter 12 The case study method; and
Chapter 13 Sampling: quantitative and qualitative.
Specific chapters on data analysis are provided in Part III for secondary data, qualitative methods and questionnaire surveys.
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Introduction
Before giving specific consideration to secondary data sources, we address the issue of measurement in sport. This relates not only to secondary sources, but to any form of quantitative method, including quantitative forms of observation (Chapter 8), the design of questionnaires (Chapter 10), aspects of experimental methods (Chapter 11) and case study research (Chapter 12). Therefore this initial section of the chapter can be seen as an introduction to the quantitative parts of Part II of the book. We consider the issue of measurement of sport in general, then address the topic of counting heads (as raised in Chapter 5).
Measuring sport activity
Measurement in this sector can be considered in two ways: at the individual, spectator and community level, in terms of engagement/participation and social/cultural impact, and at the industry level, in terms of sales/income, economic scale and impact, and employment. These two areas are closely connected, in that it is individuals that make up both the markets/audiences and the industry labour force for sport.
Types of engagement
Engagement with sports varies along a spectrum from the full-time professional at one end, via the amateur and the committed, enthusiastic fan to the most casual and occasional, mediated audience member or consumer at the other, as represented in Figure 7.1.
Professional athletes, both full-time and part-time, are discussed in the industry section of the chapter. There is, however, considerable overlap between the part-time professional category and the active leisure and volunteer participants, with the latter categories often being a route of entry to professional status. It should be noted that the group of categories, amateur, hobbyist and volunteer, are referred to by Robert Stebbins (1992, 2007) as categories of ‘serious leisure’, a concept which has been subject to considerable research, including sporting examples.
Figure 7.2 presents a sevenfold typology of ways in which sport activity can be measured and the relationships between them.
A. The percentage participation rate is the most commonly used measure in sport policy and planning research: it indicates the proportion of the population participating or the proportions of particular social groups participating. This is particularly salient because of the public policy emphasis on equity and access.
B. The number of participants is equal to the participation rate multiplied by the population, so if the latter is rising, the number of participants can be rising even as the participation rate is falling.
C. The volume of activity is equal to the numbers of participants multiplied by frequency of participation and is one of the measures of greatest interest to sport facility managers because it indicates the number of tickets sold. This introduces the issue of the nature of the ‘community’ to which the measurements apply, and this is discussed further below.
D. Time spent on an activity is particularly relevant in the sport policy context because of the concern over the amount of time people spend taking exercise compared with the amount of time they spend in sedentary activities.
E. Expenditure per visit and in total is, of course, the key measure for the private sector, and increasingly in the public sector.
F. Intensity refers to the amount of energy expended during exercise, usually measured by such indicators as oxygen uptake (VO2 max). In social terms it may be reflected in allocation of time (item D) and money (item E), but also in the type of involvement, such as membership of and leadership in organisations, the time-span of the individual's involvement and peer esteem. In leisure studies it is partly captured by the idea of ‘serious’ leisure (Stebbins, 2007).
G. Employment, in the sport sector, in addition to paid employment a great deal of voluntary activity is involved in the running of clubs and even the largest of sporting events, such as the Olympic Games. While many such volunteers may view the involvement as leisure activity (and it is one form of the ‘serious leisure’ mentioned above), it is, in effect, unpaid work.
| Type of engagement | Mode of engagement | Examples |
| 1. Professional | Full-time | Full-time professional athlete, official, manager |
| Part-time | Part-time professional athlete |
| 2. Active leisure | Amateur | Amateur athlete (organised/competitive/club-based) |
| Hobbyist | Casual participant |
| 3. Volunteer | Volunteer | Volunteer/unpaid coach, official, marshal |
| 4. Spectator/audience/fan/supporter | Committed live | Regular live spectator/supporter club member |
| Occasional live | Occasional live spectator |
| Mediated | Watching on TV/DVD, listening on radio, online, reading sport print-media |
Figure 7.1 Typology of individual engagement with sport
| Measure | Definition | Relationships | Example |
| A | Participation rate | The proportion of a defined population which engages in an activity in a given period of time | | 6 per cent of the adult population of community X go swimming at least once a week |
| B | Number of participants | Number of people in a defined community who engage in an activity in a given period of time | (A) × pop’n. or (C) ÷ frequency of visit | 20,000 people in community X swim at least once a week |
| C | Volume of activity (visits) | The number of visits made to a venue, or games played in an activity, by members of a defined community over a specified time-period | (B) × visits/games per time-period | There are 1.2 million visits to swimming pools in community X (1 million by local residents) in a year |
| D | Time | The amount of time devoted to sport activity by an individual or a community, over a specified period | (C) × time per visit | The average retired person devotes 0.75 hours to sport or physical activity per day |
| E | Expenditure | Money spent per individual or a defined community on sport or particular sporting goods or services over a specified time-period | (C) × expenditure per visit | Consumer expenditure on sport in Britain is over £20 billion a year |
| F | Intensity | Rate of energy expenditure during exercise or the maximum rate that a body ... |
