writing

MSA 670

Capstone Seminar in Sports

Administration

Belhaven University Unit 3

Research Design in Sport Management Part I

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 The first two units introduced the research

process, Unit 3 examines research designs used

by students, scholars, researchers, and

practitioners.

 Researchers use many methods of designing

studies and collecting data…

 The following areas will focus on two of the

most common approaches:

 Surveys

 Interviews

2

Introduction

 Interviews

 Questionnaires

 Interview Techniques

 Interview Process

3

Unit Topics

 Discuss technical differences between a

survey and a questionnaire

 Describe various interviews types and their

strengths and weaknesses

 Understand the benefits of various interview

techniques

 Discuss the importance of validating interview

data

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Unit Objectives

 Sport Management subdisciplines such as

organizational behavior and sports marketing

rely on surveys to reach mass target populations

 Surveys allow sports researchers the ability to

gain information about

 Characteristics

 Attitudes

 Experiences

 Orientations

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Survey Research

 Refers to the action of collecting information

 Requires standardization, which strengthens

measurement quality by asking exactly the same

questions of all subjects and allowing for a

particular response

 Standardization ensures that the content

remains consistent throughout the process of

data collection

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Survey

Questionnaires

 Refers to only one method of collecting data

that involves asking a set of questions

 Can be administered in several ways:

 Distributed in person to potential respondents

 Mailed to potential respondents

 Conducted via the internet

Types of Interviews in Research

 Interviews allow researchers to incorporate a human

element into the data collection process

 Is designed within conducting qualitative research

 Interview Types

1. Personal Interviews

2. Telephone Interviews

3. Focus Group Interviews

Questionnaire Types

 Paper, hard copy questionnaires (direct control when distributed)

 Mailed questionnaires (usually low response rate)

 Internet questionnaires (convenient and inexpensive)

 Emailed questionnaires (convenient, inexpensive, but usually low response rate)

Open Questions

 Allows the participant to respond in an unrestricted

manner

 Are often associated with qualitative studies

 Are most useful when the researcher is unsure of

the likely response

 Example:

 What are the important aspects of a successful sport camp

experience?

 This question is likely to elicit a wide-range of detailed

questions, and the data may be qualitatively analyzed or

converted into numerical data.

Closed Questions

 Requires the respondent to choose from a

number of predetermined responses

 Are associated with quantitative research

 Are typically used when the researcher has a

clear idea of the available responses

 Example:

 Are you a season ticket holder?

 This question can be most easily addressed

with either a “Yes” or “No.”

Other Questions 1. Likert Scale- the respondent indicates the extent

to which he or she agrees/disagrees with a

particular statement

2. List Questions- respondent selects more than one

response

3. Ranking Question- respondents rank responses

in order of importance

4. Filter Question- allows respondents to skip

questions that may not apply to them

Pilot Studies  Involves a small-scale administration of the survey prior to

the main administration

 Often conducted by using a similar sample

 Allows the researcher to test the administration

procedures (from initial distribution to receipt of completed

questionnaires)

 Used to test the research question(s)

 To further enhance the reliability and validity of the

research instrument

Interviews  Used widely in sport marketing, politics,

communication, and several other disciplines

 The process of interviewing involves

asymmetrical communication

 The interviewer facilitates a conversation with an

interviewee with the intent of obtaining desired

information

 The interviewer makes the initial contact,

schedules the interview, and initiates the

questions

The Interview Process

1. Accessing the Setting- involves “getting into the field”… Identifying where to conduct your interviews

and among what people groups

2. Understanding the language and culture of the

respondents- understand the language and cultural influences surrounding your interview process

3. Locating and Informant- identifying an insider (a member of the group being studied) who is willing to

serve as an informant about the group and act as a

guide

The Interview Process, cont.

1. Deciding How to Present Oneself- a researcher’s self-presentation can be critical to breaking down or

erecting barriers to data collection

 Appearance, Presentation, Emotion

2. Gaining Trust and Establishing Rapport- are essential for interviewers to establish and maintain trust

and rapport between themselves and respondents

3. Collecting Data- researchers can record interviewers via audio or video, or they can be written down and

transcribed  Notes can be taken regarding external influences surrounding the interview

Interview Techniques

 There are several interview techniques that are

common in qualitative research

 Each has its own advantages and

disadvantages in terms of time commitment,

ease of use, and data gathering

 Types of Interview Techniques:

1. Structured Interviewing

2. Unstructured Interviewing

3. Phenomenological Interviewing

Structured Interviewing

 A set of pre-established questions that follows a strict

administration and scoring rules

 Little room is allowed for open questions or variation

 One strength is that it allows the researcher to obtain

a large amount of data in a short time

 The researcher attempts to control the entire

experience, such as:

 Environment

 Question Order

 Wording of the Questions

Unstructured Interviewing

 Involves open-ended questions aimed at

eliciting richer response from interviews

 Provides the researcher with new themes or

trends that possibly had not been identified or

explored in the literature

Phenomenological Interviewing

 The purpose of phenomenological

interviewing is to understand how the

subjective world or social reality that we live

in is constituted

 How human beings make sense of their

experiences and the world around them

 Schwandt (2003) describes the aim of

phenomenology as a learning action that is

meaningful to society.

Other Interview Methods

 Delphi Procedure-

 Questions individuals, then presents responses to

a group of “experts” for their opinions

 Group Interviewing-

 Systematic questioning of several individuals

simultaneously

Coding the Data

 Coding is simply the act of moving from raw text

to research concerns in small steps, each

building on the previous one

 You can think of the steps of coding as a

staircase, moving you from a lower to a higher

level of understanding

Validating the Data

 Qualitative researchers often consider whether their data

are validated

 The challenge for the researcher is to convince the

reader that he or she has accurately reflected what was

said and placed it into the proper context within the

research study.

 Member Checking-

 A process wherein the researcher provides

participants with transcripts of their interviews to

ensure that what the researcher recorded is what the

participant was saying

 Complete reading assignments

 Complete writing assignments

 Answer discussion questions

 Complete unit quiz

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What’s next?

Andrew, D., Pedersen, P., & McEvoy, C. (2011). Research methods and

design in sport management (11th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human

Kinetics.

Kent, A. (2002). Increasing response rates among coaches: The role of

prenotification methods. Journal of Sports Management, 16, 230-

238.

Schwandt, T. A. (2003). Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry:

Interpretivism, hermeneutics, and social constructionism. In N.K.

Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), The landscape of qualitative research:

Theories and issues (2nd ed., pp. 292-331). Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage.

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References

References, cont.

Uhrich, S., & Benkenstein, M. (2010). Sport stadium atmosphere: Formative

and reflective indicators for operationalizing the construct. Journal

of Sports Management, 24, 211-237.