Critical Conversations About Qualitative Research in Sport Management

Click name to view affiliation

John N. Singer Texas A&M University

Search for other papers by John N. Singer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
,
Sally Shaw University of Otago

Search for other papers by Sally Shaw in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
,
Larena Hoeber University of Regina

Search for other papers by Larena Hoeber in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
,
Nefertiti Walker University of Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Nefertiti Walker in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
,
Kwame J. A. Agyemang Louisiana State University

Search for other papers by Kwame J. A. Agyemang in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
, and
Kyle Rich Brock University

Search for other papers by Kyle Rich in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
*
Restricted access

The following article is an edited transcript of, “Critical Conversations About Qualitative Research in Sport Management” from the 2017 North American Society of Sport Management conference in Denver, CO, from May 30 to June 3. This 60-min roundtable session included a group of scholars with keen interest and background experiences in qualitative inquiry. They responded to questions about the state of qualitative research in the field, influential qualitative work both within and outside the field, and future considerations for research in the field. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the discussions from this roundtable session and our collective responses in the spirit of continuing to question how we use qualitative research in sport management. In this regard, we ended this article with each of the panelists, including the moderator, offering some postscript reflections.

Singer is with the Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. Shaw is with the University of Otago, North Dunedin, New Zealand. Hoeber is with the University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Walker is with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Agyemang is with the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Rich is with the Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Address author correspondence to John N. Singer at singerjn@tamu.edu.
  • Collapse
  • Expand
  • Acosta, R.V., & Carpenter, L.J. (2014). Women in intercollegiate sport. A longitudinal, national study, thirty-seven year update 1977–2014. Retrieved from http://www.acostacarpenter.org

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Agyemang, K.J.A., & Singer, J.N. (2014). Race in the present day: NBA employees sound off on race and racism. Journal of African American Studies, 18(1), 1132. doi:10.1007/s12111-013-9249-2

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Amis, J., & Silk, M. (2005). Rupture: Promoting critical and innovative approaches to the study of sport management. Journal of Sport Management, 19(4), 355366. doi:10.1123/jsm.19.4.355

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Arai, S., & Pedlar, A. (2003). Moving beyond individualism in leisure theory: A critical analysis of concepts of community and social engagement. Leisure Studies, 22(3), 185202. doi:10.1080/026143603200075489

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Blodgett, A.T., Coholic, D.A., Schinke, R.J., McGannon, K.R., Peltier, D., & Pheasant, C. (2013). Moving beyond words: Exploring the use of an arts-based method in Aboriginal community sport research. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 5(3), 312331. doi:10.1080/2159676X.2013.796490

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bradbury-Huang, H. (2010a). Thinking about scale and influencing government policy. Action Research, 8(4), 363366. doi:10.1177/1476750310392205

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bradbury-Huang, H. (2010b). What is good action research? Why the resurgent interest? Action Research, 8(1), 93109. doi:10.1177/1476750310362435

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Burden, J.W., Jr., Harrison, L., Jr., & Hodge, S.R. (2005). Perceptions of African American faculty in kinesiology-based programs at predominantly white American institutions of higher education. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76(2), 224237. PubMed ID: 16128489 doi:10.1080/02701367.2005.10599283

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Clandinin, D.J., & Connelly, F.M. (2000). Narrative inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

  • Creswell, J.W. (2014). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Denzin, N.K., & Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.) (2005). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Ellis, C., Bochner, A., Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y., Morse, J., Pelias, R., & Richardson, L. (2008). Talking and thinking about qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(2), 254284. doi:10.1177/1077800407311959

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Feagin, J.R., & Ducey, K. (2017). Elite white men ruling: Who, what, when, where, and how. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Frisby, W. (2005). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Critical sport management research. Journal of Sport Management, 19(1), 112. doi:10.1123/jsm.19.1.1

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Giardina, M.D. (2017). (Post?)qualitative inquiry in sport, exercise, and health: Notes on a methodologically contested present. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 9(2), 258270. doi:10.1080/2159676X.2016.1273904

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Giardina, M.D., & Newman, J.I. (2014). The politics of research. In Leavy, P. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of qualitative research (pp. 699723). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Gioia, D.A., Corley, K.G., & Hamilton, A.L. (2013). Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational Research Methods, 16(1), 1531. doi:10.1177/1094428112452151

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Hayhurst, L.M.C., Giles, A.R., & Radforth, W.M. (2015). ‘I want to come here to prove them wrong’: Using a post-colonial feminist participatory action research (PFPAR) approach to studying sport, gender and development programmes for urban Indigenous young women. Sport in Society, 18(8), 952967. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.997585

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Hoeber, L., & Shaw, S. (2017). Contemporary qualitative research methods in sport management. Sport Management Review, 20(1), 47. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2016.11.005

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Inglis, S. (2007). Creative tensions and conversations in the academy. Journal of Sport Management, 21(1), 114. doi:10.1123/jsm.21.1.1

  • James, J.D. (2018). Not all doctoral programs are created equally. Journal of Sport Management, 32(1), 110. doi:10.1123/jsm.2017-0257

  • Jarvie, G. (2003). Communitarianism, sport and social capital: ‘Neighbourly insights into Scottish Sport’. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 38(2), 139153. doi:10.1177/1012690203038002001

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jayakumar, U.M., Howard, T.C., Allen, W.R., & Han, J.C. (2009). Racial privilege in the professoriate: An exploration of campus climate, retention, and satisfaction. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(5), 538563. doi:10.1080/00221546.2009.11779031

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Katz, M., Walker, N.A., & Hindman, L.C. (2018). Gendered leadership networks in the NCAA: Analyzing affiliation networks of senior woman administrators and athletic directors. Journal of Sport Management, 32(2), 135149. doi:10.1123/jsm.2017-0306

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Kihl, L.A., Richardson, T., & Campisi, C. (2008). Toward a grounded theory of student-athlete suffering and dealing with academic corruption. Journal of Sport Management, 22(3), 273302. doi:10.1123/jsm.22.3.273

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lashua, B.D., & Fox, K. (2007). Defining the groove: From remix to research in The Beat of Boyle Street. Leisure Sciences, 29(2), 143158. doi:10.1080/01490400601160796

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lather, P. (1986). Research as praxis. Harvard Educational Review, 56(3), 257278. doi:10.17763/haer.56.3.bj2h231877069482

  • Mertens, D.M. (2010). Transformative mixed methods research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(6), 469474. doi:10.1177/1077800410364612

  • Mertens, D.M. (2012). Transformative mixed methods: Addressing inequities. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(6), 802813. doi:10.1177/0002764211433797

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Milner, H.R. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen. Educational Researcher, 36(7), 388400. doi:10.3102/0013189X07309471

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Newman, J.I. (2014). Sport without management. Journal of Sport Management, 28(6), 603615. doi:10.1123/jsm.2012-0159

  • Nite, C., & Singer, J.N. (2012). Qualitative inquiry: Quality research for connecting with and affecting change in sport populations. Qualitative Research Journal, 12(1), 8897. doi:10.1108/14439881211222750

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Nite, C., & Singer, J.N. (2013). An examination of sport management doctoral programme research requirements. Educate, 13(2), 2435.

  • Patton, M.Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation criteria (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Pink, S. (2011). Doing visual ethnography (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Rose, G. (2012). Visual methodologies: Introduction to researching with visual materials (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Schinke, R.J., McGannon, K.R., Watson, J., & Busanich, R. (2013). Moving toward trust and partnership: An example of sport-related community-based participatory action research with Aboriginal people and mainstream academics. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 5(4), 201210. doi:10.1108/JACPR-11-2012-0012

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Shaw, S., & Hoeber, L. (2016). Unclipping our wings: Ways forward in qualitative research in sport management. Sport Management Review, 19(3), 255265. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2016.03.001

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Singer, J.N. (2005). Addressing epistemological racism in sport management research. Journal of Sport Management, 19(4), 464479. doi:10.1123/jsm.19.4.464

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Smith, B. (2018). Generalizability in qualitative research: Misunderstandings, opportunities and recommendations for the sport and exercise sciences. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(1), 137149. doi:10.1080/2159676X.2017.1393221

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Smith, B., & McGannon, K.R. (2018). Developing rigor in qualitative research: Problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11(1), 101121. doi:10.1080/1750984X.2017.1317357

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Smith, L.T. (2006). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.

  • Stanfield, J.H., II. (2006). The possible restorative justice functions of qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(6), 723727. doi:10.1080/09518390600975925

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Stanley, C.A. (2007). When counter narratives meet master narratives in the journal editorial-review process. Educational Researcher, 36(1), 1424. doi:10.3102/0013189X06298008

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Walker, N.A., & Melton, E.N. (2015). Creating opportunities for social change in women’s sport through academic and industry collaborations: An interview with Kate Fagan. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 8(1), 8295. doi:10.1123/jis.2015-0019

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Zeigler, E.F. (2007). Sport management must show social concern as it develops tenable theory. Journal of Sport Management, 21(3), 297318. doi:10.1123/jsm.21.3.297

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Zuberi, T., & Bonilla-Silva, E. (Eds.) (2008). White logic, white methods: Racism and methodology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 4900 1289 68
Full Text Views 385 119 27
PDF Downloads 265 88 19