CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Every research project is guided by what a researcher wants to achieve, what they believe is good research, and what it means to conduct research into sport management. Each researcher, therefore, has particular priorities and orientations that direct the research project. However, the adequacy of the answers we get from our research is always reliant on how willing we are as researchers to peer into the unknown. This means we have to look at things in often unconventional ways or from different vantage points. When a range of methodologies and theoretical perspectives are employed by researchers working within an academic discipline, then new knowledge is generated, and the discipline is able to progress in its development. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1994), qualitative research focuses on interpretation of phenomena in their natural settings to make sense in terms of the meanings people bring to these settings. Qualitative research involves collecting information about personal experiences, introspection, life story, interviews, observations, historical, interactions, and visual text, which are significant moments and meaningful in peoples' lives. Patton (2002) stated that the purpose of qualitative research is not necessarily to predict what might occur, but rather to understand in depth the characteristics of the situation and the meaning brought by participants and what is happening to them at the moment. The aim of qualitative research is to truthfully present findings to others who are interested in what you are doing. If you are a research student, then you have a role to play in this process of developing knowledge not only for yourself but also for future practitioners, academics, and students of sport management. This chapter addresses the distinctiveness of qualitative research and the benefits it holds for sport management research. The chapter covers the characteristics of qualitative research; how these compare with those of quantitative research; and the value of qualitative research for sport management inquiry.
INTRODUCTION
Sport research should systematically advance knowledge about the discipline and thus be relevant to both academics and practitioners. Research methods play an important role in advancing knowledge, and continuous efforts to develop and apply new research methods that are essential for sport management research to capture the complexities of the contemporary sporting landscape (Smith & Stewart, 2010). Important but complex research issues have emerged as sport continues to globalise and further embed itself in the social, cultural, and economic fabric of society. In many cases, addressing these research problems challenges research designs and methods in which sport management researchers have been trained. However, it is clear that when investigating the diverse, complex, and changing contemporary field of sport, we need to recognise there is no longer a single methodology that meets the needs of all sport management related research (Hoeber & Shaw, 2017).
Diversity in methods and approaches can facilitate the development of the sport management discipline. Historically, under the influence of the dominant positivist paradigm, sport-related research predominately focused on scientific explanation and prediction through a value-free lens as possible (Glesne, 2006). Positivists usually embraced an ontological view that there is one reality that can be quantified and measured. Epistemologically, positivists believed that reality consists of facts and with appropriate methods scientists can ascertain those facts (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). As such, positivists were usually characterised by a belief that, if an investigation follows the rigid methods set forth, and establishes a degree of methodological validity and reliability, the results can be considered objective and value-free facts of the world (Kuhn, 1962).
Sport management research to a large extent grew out of the view that researchers should use research methods that were similar to those that had seemed to lead to the discovery of objective laws and regularities in the natural sciences (Skinner & Edwards, 2005). The appropriate way of knowing about knowledge production is thought to be by means of the hypthetico-deductive method in which the sport researcher begins with a clearly articulated theory, deduces hypotheses which are logically consistent with the theory, and then tests the hypotheses under experimental conditions. Such methodology assumes that through observation and precise measurement, social reality (Kuhn, 1962), which is external to and independent of the mind of the observer, may be rendered comprehensible to the sport management researcher (van Manen, 1997).
According to Sharp and Green (1975), it is in approaches to theorisation, as much as in the methodology itself, that the “inherent weakness” of such deductive research is revealed. Critical sport management theorists challenged the positivist logical empiricist tradition and argued that while “fact finding” and “head counting” produces voluminous statistical data, it does not address the social circumstances out of which such data arise (Frisby, 2005). Criticism of the separation of the individual from social structures, which is a characteristic of the positivist tradition, coupled with a philosophical attack upon the tenets of positivism, and the realisation that social advances do not necessarily follow any correct scientific manner (Kuhn, 1962), led to the emergence of more interpretive research (Woods & Hammersley, 1977). This approach shares a common concern with the investigation of ways in which human actors themselves construct the social world through the interpretation of the interaction with other human actors. This relationship between the research and informant prompted the emergence of new paradigms emerging in sport management research. Sport management researchers embracing these new research paradigms signalled a growing awareness in the sport management research community that there is no single or right way to understand social reality (Smith & Sparkes, 2016).
What the above discussion indicates is that the sport management researcher should determine which approach will be most effective given the research question. As these questions become more complex, there is a need for more innovative qualitative methods and approaches to explore new emerging sport management phenomena, for example the social and economic influence of the growth of E-Sports. Conducting and publishing research with real implications for sport management practice has long been a challenge for sport management researchers (Frisby, 2005), the challenge looms even larger as the sport industry continues to evolve and expand rapidly. One way to address emerging new research phenomena is through innovative qualitative research methods or approaches. Innovation in this sense might mean the development of new methods, approaches, or procedures or the integration of multiple qualitative methods in innovative ways. This book therefore aims to provide examples of a range of innovative research qualitative methodologies that can be applied in sport management research. In doing so, the chapters within the book aim to advance our theoretical understanding and practical application of research in sport management.
WHY DO SPORT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH?
Research and reflection are essential in any discipline if that discipline wants to grow in a positive and beneficial way. Thomas, Nelson, and Silverman (2005) asserted:
one of the primary distinctions between a discipline or profession and trade is that the trade deals only with how to deal with something, whereas the discipline or profession concerns itself not only with how but also with why something should be done in a certain manner and why it should even be done. (p. 6)
Sport management research can add important information to the discipline's knowledge base. Such information, where relevant, can be drawn on by other researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and even other stakeholders such as club members, athletes, fans, existing and potential sponsors, advertisers, marketers, and any other interested member of the general public. For the sport management researcher, a particular research study may be on a topic or issue previously ignored, or perhaps on a “new” topic that had never been considered before. The research may also build on previous research studies, providing results to confirm or extend the previous study, or even to question its findings. This is true of any academic discipline and sport management is no exception. ...
