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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (217)
There has been a significant increase in interest in qualitative methodologies since the turn of the century. One reason for this increased interest is a desire to understand the different ways which can inform how we understand social reality and, as researchers, describe and represent the social reality of those we work with. Creative analytical...
This study explores the reasons given by five elite athletes for choosing to seek psychiatric support and treatment outside, rather than inside, their own sport environments. Life story interviews were conducted with these athletes, who were recruited from an open psychiatric clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. The interviews were then subjected to a stru...
Just as those who suffer a disabling spinal cord injury (SCI) through sport become wounded storytellers so do their spouses/partners. Little however is known about the experiences of such spouses/partners and even less is known about how time operates to shape these experiences. This article, therefore, draws on life story data to explore the exper...
Disability simulations have developed as a popular professional development tool to help increase knowledge and
awareness of disability and facilitate pedagogical learning
among prospective and pre-service teachers. The aim of this
research is to explore the ethics of sighted people simulating
visual impairment from the perspective of visually impa...
Gaining access to formal institutions can be problematic for ethnographers. This is especially so when it comes to prisons where people are incarcerated by the state against their will for various crimes committed by them. Here, in such highly controlled environments, some authors have pointed out the lack of openness of correctional facilities to...
This paper explores how trans people who make transitions negotiate their gendered bodies in different moments of this process, and how their narrative storylines are emplotted in physical activity and (non)organized sports (PAS) participation. A qualitative semi-structured interview-based study was developed to analyze the stories of eight trans p...
This article offers autoethnographic insights into the consequences of making a spectacle of oneself in the audit culture of the academy. Spectacle 1 explores my experiences of using the h-index as part of an annual salary review and how this made me feel like an artificial person. Spectacle 2 shows how, at a conference, I used laughter to expose s...
Disability simulations have been advocated as a tool to facilitate pedagogical learning among prospective physical education (PE) teachers. However, much of the research currently available neglect the views of people with disabilities about the development and use of such simulations. To address this omission, this study used vignettes and telepho...
The growth of, and importance attached to, qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology is evident in the increasing number of qualitative journal research articles published. This chapter provides a flavor of the current qualitative research landscape by addressing in some depth "what is qualitative research." In a modest attempt to advan...
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a potentially life-threatening condition unique to individuals with spinal cord injury above the sixth thoracic spinal level. When this condition is induced by spinal cord injured athletes to enhance performance it is known as boosting. Given that little is known about this practice from the perspectives of the athlete...
Little is known about why disabled athletes choose to modify their bodies and the meanings that these modifications have for them. Drawing on data from a larger 4-year ethnographic study, we focus on the motivations and meanings of five athletes who had become disabled due to spinal cord injury (SCI) for tattooing their bodies in specific ways. Our...
In this article I offer some reflections of how my evaluative self goes about passing judgement on different kinds of autoethnography. I begin by making distinctions between the autobiographical and the autoethnographic before raising questions about whether or not self-reflexive accounts of the fieldwork process can claim the title of autoethnogra...
This article focuses on the influence of early life experiences and socio-cultural context on coach learning in the sport of rugby league. It draws on the findings of a study that investigated the influence of cultural context on the development of elite-level rugby league coaches in England and Australia. The article focuses on the influence of ex...
Since we wrote the chapter for the first edition of this Handbook (Smith and Sparkes 2012), research on disability, sport and physical activity has grown considerably. Our aspirations remain modest in terms of what can covered in this second edition. This chapter does build on the first edition, though, by offering new insights in three sections. T...
In this article, we seek to expand our understanding of the micropolitics of school life by drawing on data generated from a one-year ethnographic study of a physical education (PE) department at a high school in the North of England. Specific attention is given to the structured demands placed upon the Departmental Head in the face of an imminent...
In an attempt to better prepare prospective PE teachers for teaching pupils with disabilities, our research takes up the call of Sparkes, A., Martos-Garcia, D., & Maher, A. (2019). Me, Imperfect Osteogenesis and my classmates in physical education lessons: A case study of embodied pedagogy in action. Sport, Education and Society, 24(4), 338–348 [fo...
This article examines how stories as actors can cause trouble in lives by focusing on the reactions of a competitive cyclist, named David, to the public confession by Lance Armstrong of being a drug cheat and a bully. We begin by providing a context for this trouble by considering the affective dynamics of fandom and the part this plays in the soci...
This study examined university gym use by staff and students using mixed methods: participant observation and an e-survey. Research in three UK universities entailed 16 observation sessions and an e-survey that reached 3396 students and staff. The research focused on gym use, the gym environment, the presentation of the self, and social interaction...
This chapter considers the three major texts on autoethnography, including Handbook of Autoethnography, Contemporary British Autoethnography, Turner, and Grant; and Autoethnography. Such texts represent a coming of age for autoethnography. They provide a wonderful resource to guide and support both seasoned autoethnographers and newcomers alike. Co...
This article explores the impact of the binary configuration of disabled bodies as opposite and unequal to able bodies, and whether or not contemporary bodybuilding provides a space where this dualism can be overcome. Drawing on life history interviews with Dan, a professional wheelchair bodybuilder, we consider how his hyper-muscular upper body ma...
Pupils with disabilities have been found to experience a narrower physical education curriculum and participate less frequently than pupils without disabilities. A lack of knowledge, skills, relevant experiences and confidence amongst physical education (PE) teachers has been said to contribute to these differential educational experiences. This ar...
In much research dealing with sport technologies and the process of cyborgification there is a significant lack of attention given to the experiences of athletes themselves. This is particularly so for disabled athletes. Against this backdrop of neglect, we draw on data generated from a 4-year ethnographic study that explored the experiences and me...
Qualitative research is a craft skill that to master takes time, practice and intellectual engagement (Demuth, 2015). It is, as Denzin and Lincoln (2011) point out, a field of inquiry in its own right that cross-cuts disciplines, fields and subject matter. They note that a complex, interconnected family of concepts and assumptions surround the term...
The processes involved in the transition from crime to desistance, in relation to how those involved in criminal activity give meaning to their experiences of aging over time, has received little empirical scrutiny in the criminological literature. In this article, we unpack and flesh out the multiple meanings of age by drawing on a life story stud...
Narratives are actors that do things in terms of shaping experience. They perform the work of subjectification informing people who they ought to be, who they might like to be, and who they can be (Frank, Health 10(4):421–440, 2006, Letting stories breathe: a socio-narratology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2010). In this chapter, we explor...
This article makes the case for taking sporting autobiographies seriously as both an analytical and pedagogical resource. First, the nature of autobiography is clarified and the interest shown by other disciplines in this genre is discussed. Next, the prevailing negative view of sporting autobiographies and the assumptions underlying them are outli...
Through a process of collaborative autoethnography, we explore the experiences of one female athlete named Bella who was groomed and then sexually abused by her male coach. Bella’s story signals how the
structural conditions and power relationships embedded in competitive sporting environments, specifically the power invested in the coach, provide...
Ageing, like masculinity, does not mean the same thing to all men. It varies in how it is understood, experienced and lived out in daily practices. This is particularly so when the body is foregrounded in the places where sports and physical activities take place. Here, making sense of age is a gendered process. To illustrate this, I draw upon sele...
This paper offers insights into the increasing dichotomy that exists between official forms of opportunity and access and the actual ‘lived experience’ of young peoples' trajectories towards careers in the UK's market-orientated Sport-Fitness and Physical Education employment sectors. It does so by drawing on data generated by an 18-month ethnograp...
Researchers in sport have claimed that reflective practice is important for competent practice. Evidence supporting this claim is sparse, highly theoretical and located within a variety of domains. The aim of this study was to assimilate and analyse the last 12 years of reflective practice literature within the sport domain in order to identify new...
In this article, we present a case study analysis of data gathered on the practice of the art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) in one UK context. Our interest in looking at this physical culture was in exploring if/how physical cultures of shared embodied experience and practice may help “sow the seeds of environmental awareness”. In so doing, we illus...
Abstract Hypnosis has long been recognized as an effective tool for producing behavioral change in the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. Despite many studies from the latter half of the last century suggesting that hypnosis might also be of value in managing obesity situations, the efficacy of hypnotherapy for weight reduction has received sur...
This paper explores the layered transitional experiences of a semi-professional athlete named Jack (a pseudonym) between the fields of professional sport and further and higher education. Our analysis is framed by the quadripartite framework of structuration and focuses on Jack’s ‘in-situ’ practices at his college and university in order to illustr...
Objectives
To generate insights into the personal meaning and value of an inclusive adventurous training and adapted sport course for military personnel who have experienced physical disability as a result of injuries sustained during active service.
Design
Narrative storytelling approach based on collaboratively written creative nonfictions.
Met...
Objectives
To stimulate debate in sport and exercise psychology about the nature of mixed methods research as currently practiced and how this approach might develop in the future.
Design
An exploration of five points of controversy relating to mixed methods research.
Method
A presentation of critical reflections on the following. (1) Mixing meth...
This is a book - please kindly do NOT request a copy from me.
Qualitative forms of inquiry are a dynamic and exciting area within contemporary research in sport, exercise and health. Students and researchers at all levels are now expected to understand qualitative approaches and be able to employ them in their work. in this comprehensive and in-de...
This article explores a key issue that was left mostly unsaid in a recent special edition of Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health that invited predominantly quantitative researchers to share their views on qualitative research with a view to stimulating dialogue. This key issue is that of power. To explore this unsaid, I offer some re...
The invitation came. This was my promise to the editors. My abstract of abstraction called: “The embodiment of father and sons: In bits and pieces of flesh, memory, time, and place”.
A follow-up of the 1990s review of qualitative research articles published in three North American sport psychology journals (Culver, Gilbert, & Trudel, 2003) was conducted for the years 2000–2009. Of the 1,324 articles published, 631 were data-based and 183 of these used qualitative data collection techniques; an increase from 17.3% for the 1990s...
In this article the author seeks to explore the dynamics of father–son relationships by calling upon bits and pieces of memory and representing them through poetic forms and vignettes. Issues of embodiment, ageing, social class, masculinity, sport, and vulnerability as multilayered and interrelated phenomena pervade the text. The constraining and e...
This paper critically discusses mixed-method research. A case is first offered as to why it is relevant for physical therapists to engage with the mixing of quantitative and qualitative methods and engage in debates about the intermingling of these techniques. Next, to provide a context for critical discussion several paradigms are outlined. Follow...
Purpose - The purpose of this chapter is to outline what narrative inquiry entails, why it is relevant for the study of sport and physical culture and how researchers might engage in its analytical methods. Design/methodology/approach - Narrative inquiry as an approach, not simply a method, is delineated in this chapter. The design of a project is...
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to differentiate between a sociology of the body and an embodied sociology, prior to considering what this might mean in methodological terms for those wishing to conduct research into the senses and the sensorium in sport and physical culture.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken involves review...
Measurement in Sport and Exercise Psychology provides a complete analysis of the tools and methods used in sport and exercise psychology research. Each chapter of this accessible text presents key measurement variables and concepts, including their definitions; an evaluation of the measurement constructs and tools available; and an explanation of a...
This paper reports upon a small study which detailed the perceptions and experiences of physical activity from the perspective of children in different localities. Situated within educational settings, this research centred upon pupils in Year 5 across three schools in England in both rural and urban environments. Participants (n=61) were subject t...
In writing the paper Fit for purpose? Fit for life (Dodd and Palmer, 2009), the authors highlight some key issues from the National Curriculum for Physical Education (QCA, 2007), exploring and challenging the notion of physical activity becoming a central part of pupils’ lives as a consequence of PE in schools. The article, stemming from work produ...
This paper reveals how Beki showcased and performed her data about episodes in her life with a richness, feeling and impact that text alone may struggle to impart. Therefore central to her thesis and the telling of her story is the visual representation of ‘Beki’s story’. One idea behind this paper is that if the data is strong enough it may stand...
This paper offers a personal view on some of the challenges and processes associated with undertaking postgraduate qualitative research. Representation of data is also a core theme as the research discussed here utilised multi-form art-based mediums to communicate aspects of data and to disseminate the research beyond the confines of academia. The...
This paper is an account of personal reflection upon my doctoral research. The account was written between the phases of thesis submission and viva examination. Consequently the process of revising and summarising the research has been a more than useful exercise in preparation for the final judgement of my work. Concentrating on this paper has for...
In a leading article for the BSA's (British Sociological Association) Newsletter, Ivor Gaber, freelance journalist and Emeritus Professor of Broadcast Journalism at Goldsmiths College, University of London, suggested that sociologists might improve their skills of interpretation and communication by developing closer relations with journalism, part...
This paper critically analyses the National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) 2008 by comparing and contrasting the key points and principles of the 2000 and 2008 published documents. The 2008 NCPE revision aimed to reduce the prescriptive content of the 2000 version, thus allowing teachers to personalise learning. However, given that UK educati...
Having recently started my PhD journey regarding the sensing sporting body I will briefly plot my personal and academic dilemmas as I struggle to negotiate this newly found terrain alongside becoming a Father. An attempt is made to paint a picture of the climate surrounding my decision to research whilst justifying my reasons and responses to the c...
This paper is being written a few days before I travel to my twelfth higher degree examination. This gives me two perspectives from which to write: first, my view looking back over 24 years to my own PhD viva and the eleven I have been involved in examining since then; and second, looking forward to this forthcoming viva in a few days time. The aim...
The theme of this volume is on the post graduate research journey: PGCE, MA, MRes, MPhil/PhD, Examination Vivas, Post Doc and Early Career Researcher persopectives, Supervision and Professorial research.
This paper discusses issues surrounding the development of talent in golf; the study utilising qualitative methods to explore some factors that specialist coaches perceived to be critical in the development of young players. Eight golf coaches with significant experience of developing golfers were interviewed to elicit their opinions and perception...
This paper is a Post Doctoral reflective account about coming to terms with types of data that were valued, differently, during phases of a PhD study. The status of knowledge that a certain kind of data may provide began to be questioned and the tentative steps towards a quest for authenticity in data rather than statistical provability were being...
In the following commentary I offer a personal view on the exercise of writing auto-ethnographically. Although I explain that writing is, for me, an isolated and insular process I stress that my own capacity to write and publish has required the support of other researchers and practitioners who work across the domains of sport and exercise. Their...
This piece of writing forms a very brief illustration of a process of reflection, at a time when I firmly consider myself as being an ‘Early Career Researcher’ (ECR) in Sport and Leisure studies. Despite having a number of the ‘badges’ which are seen as being needed for a career in academia (a PhD, innumerable conference presentations, a few public...
Drawing on data generated by life history interviews and fieldwork observations we illuminate the ways in which a young elite athlete named David (a pseudonym) gave meaning to his experiences of cancer that eventually led to his death. Central to this process were the ways in which David utilized both social comparisons and a narrative map provided...
The purpose of this paper is to explore the meanings of outdoor physical activity in the natural environment for parentally-bereaved young people. It draws on data generated from a two-year ethnographic study that focused on the experiences of those involved with the Rocky Centre, a childhood bereavement service in the UK. Data was collected via ex...
Drawing on data generated from a two-year ethnographic study of the Rocky Centre (achildhood bereavement organisation in the UK), this article explores the positive changes and themes of posttraumatic growth experienced by parentally bereaved young people. Although the broader study generated data from participant observation, interviews and a docu...
This article utilizes data provided by 12 published autobiographies to explore the role of metaphor in shaping the illness experience of elite athletes. First, a case is made for the use of published autobiographies as a resource in sports-related studies for examining vocabularies of self, and the centrality of metaphor in the performance of signi...
Over the life course our ‘real’ bodies change and we come to inhabit them and know them and ourselves in different ways. Of course, just how we learn to inhabit different bodies in the flesh and give meaning to them over time is a complex relational process that has consequences for our being in the world. Central to this process is the role of nar...
The purpose of this two-year ethnographic study was to explore the experiences of parentally bereaved young people who sought support from the Rocky Centre (a pseudonym), a childhood bereavement service in the United Kingdom. Data were generated from extended periods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with both staff and serv...
A crescente preocupação pela pesquisa narrativa em ciências sociais tem tido pouco impacto sobre a educação física e ciências do esporte. Neste artigo, vamos tentar compensar esta situação questionando o significado desta pesquisa e sua utilidade para o nosso campo. Para compreender esta nova e complexa forma de pesquisa, o que primeiro tentamos de...
Narratives do things. This performative aspect of narrative includes calling on people for a response. This article explores the responses we have witnessed to a chaos narrative told to us by a disabled man that we then shared with different audiences over time. The following four types of response were identified: depression-therapy restitution st...
Narrative inquiry is a burgeoning form of research in social sciences that has received little attention in physical education and sport sciences. In this article, we seek to balance this situation by offering an understanding of what narrative inquiry can be and can offer to ourfield. In order to gain some theoretical purchase on a difficult field...
Drawing on data generated from a six-year ethnographic study of one Wing Chun Kung Fu Association in England, this article explores the ways in which this martial art is constructed as a form of religion and functions as a secular religious practice for core members of this association. Two key features of this process are identified. The first inv...
This article draws on data generated from a 3-year ethnographic study of “jock culture” at one university setting in England to illuminate the ways that specific kinds of bodies are located in social space so as to construct a range of identity positions that facilitate the maintenance of this culture over time. These positions are as follows: the...
This article seeks to expand our understanding on narrative and the analysis of stories researchers invite and collect in the domain of aging studies. To do so, we first offer an understanding of what narrative inquiry can be by laying out a theoretical basis for this kind of research, and making a case for the relevance of narrative as an alternat...
The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of the professional identity of Alex (a pseudonym), a physical educator in charge of sport and physical activity in a Spanish prison. To this end, we used a biographical-dialectic perspective based mainly on interviews especially focused on prior experiences, contextual resources and the micr...
In Vol 3 JQRSS branches out to experiment with different forms ethnographic data - from text to photographs. Football, sports ethics and applied qualitative research from undergrad and post grads.
This study explores the vulnerabilities and difficulties of living with burnout, clinical depression and anxiety. It does so by providing moments from my narrative of self that focuses on an interrupted body project as the result of burnout, and its impact to past, present and future selves. In the presentation of my now public experience, I invite...
Bangkok is one of the world‟s most densely populated cities. Although the Thai capital has avoided many of the recent and ongoing socio-cultural and ethno-political problems experienced by cities in neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, the dominance of drug and sex trade industries in Bangkok has led many amongst the local population to enga...
This paper presents a literature-based discussion of girls‟ participation during physical education lessons in the USA conducted using the Sport Education model developed by Daryl Seidentop (see Seidentop, 1994). First, a review of the literature about girls‟ experiences within traditional physical education is provided and following a short histor...
This research explores the relationship between some fans from two English football clubs, Everton FC and Liverpool FC. This will be framed within an examination of the meaning of rivalry, underpinned by a review of key literature on social deconstruction, the meanings gauged from football fan experiences, and how these have been portrayed in the m...
Rebound Therapy is a term referring to the use of trampolines to provide therapeutic exercise and recreation in an educational setting. It is purported to offer physiological, therapeutic and communication benefits, especially among children with “profound and multiple learning disabilities” (PMLD) and is widely used throughout Special Education Ne...