Description
Researching Difference in Sport and Physical Activity goes beyond the content of introductory research methods texts to provide an insight into the methodological hurdles that are experienced when researching ‘difference’ in Sport and Physical Activity.
Contributors reflect upon how the rhetoric of research methodology transfers into the reality of data collection across ‘difference’. Presenting case studies of real research projects, the book covers a range of topics, such as:
- disability in sport and physical activity
- vulnerable children in sport and physical activity
- visual research tools when working with children in a primary school setting
- physical activity, sedentary behaviour and obesity through childhood
- diverse ethnic groups in sport and physical activity settings.
Each chapter contends with practical issues of power and representation within the research process, to recognise how a researcher–participant relationship that considers those who are ‘othered’ serves to change the dynamics and processes of research.
This is an important resource for students of all sports related subjects and essential reading for anyone interested in the study of marginalised populations in sport and physical activity.
Table of Contents
1. Researching Difference
Richard Medcalf and Chris Mackintosh
2. The Research Process
Richard Medcalf
3. Using Interviews to Explore Experiences of Disability in Sport and Physical Activity
James Brighton and Toni Williams
4. ‘No Strings Attached’: Reflections on Using Puppets in Focus Group Interviews with Vulnerable Children in Sport and Physical Activity
Tom Quarmby
5. Using Visual Research Tools When Working with Children in a Primary School Setting
Suzanne Everley
6. Ethnography and Autoethnography in Researching a Masters Swimming Community
Janet Hutchings, Ian Jones and Dorothy Fox
7. Using a Scale to Explore Pre-service Physical Education Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Difference: Methodological Opportunities and Tensions
Justen O’Connor, Laura Alfrey, Ruth Jeanes, and Dawn Penney
8. Measuring Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Obesity Through Childhood
Ash Routen
9. Conducting Cross-cultural Research with Diverse Ethnic Groups in Sport and Physical Activity Settings
Whitney Curry and Symeon Dagkas
10. Research in Action
Elizabeth Durden-Myers
11. Researching Difference and Otherness: Next Steps and Challenges in Sport and Physical Activity
Chris Mackintosh and Richard Medcalf
