0272.TheSES-December Issue - Bases

RESEARCHQualitative Researchwithin Sport and ExerciseCOURTESY OF DR DAVID GILBOURNEAs a prelude to practical advice on some ofthe methods associated with qualitativeresearch to be shared in the next issue of TheSES, Drs David Gilbourne and DavidRichardson overview qualitative research’scontribution to our understanding of sportand exercise and outline some of thechallenges to publication.Many of you reading this article will havebeen trained in the ‘natural’ sciences. You willhave developed or be developing a range ofscientific methods and skills, and ways ofexpressing the knowledge that emanatesfrom their appropriate use. These are, ofcourse, legitimate ways of exploring many ofthe topics that interest us in the sport andexercise sciences. What follows is a look atother ways of exploring sport and exercisetopics and writing about our research.Different ways of thinking, researchingand writingAs this article unfolds, our discussion becomesmore personally associated with our ownexperiences of writing for a sport and exerciseaudience. The representational style of ourwriting changes to accommodate this morepersonal emphasis. This approach helps tounderpin the central debate in which weconsider how different forms of representationcan extend the qualitative landscape in the fieldof Sport and Exercise Science.The 1st International Conference inQualitative Research in Sport and Exercise,held in May 2004, was organised around aseries of invited lectures and practicalpresentations. These contributions provideddelegates with critical insights into a numberof qualitative themes, including: conductingethnography, reflections on the relationshipbetween knowledge, action and art,performance and critique of ethnodrama,community-based research issues, andthoughts on the challenges facing qualitativeresearchers in the future(http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/sps/latestnews/conference)The present article comments briefly on theinfluence of different writing styles on therepresentation of qualitative data. Thedecision to focus on this specific qualitativetopic was influenced by its featuring in manypresentations during the qualitativeconference and its discussion in a number ofqualitative reviews (Biddle et al., 2001). Theabove sources all suggest that acontemporary challenge for qualitativeresearchers, in the domain of sport andexercise at least, relates to the developmentand acceptance of 'other' ways of writing.A range of different ‘tales’ (e.g., confessionalEthnodrama.A scene from the 2004Qualitative Conferencetales, autobiographicalaccounts, and creativenon-fiction) utiliseapproaches to writingthat embrace literaryconventions. Forexample, aconfessional taleframed around anethnographer's ownresearch experience,could place anemphasis on thedevelopment of strongcharacterisations. Theauthor may think thatthese characters (wemight wish to assumethat they wereassociated with the ethnographic research)may need to be woven into a story (ornarrative) so that material adequatelyrepresents the complexity of the researchexperience. As a consequence, referencemight be made to sub-plots, such as theinternal political influences affecting practiceand practitioners, and these may surface andsubmerge differentially as any story unfolds.In a similar way, an autobiographical text mayutilise images from a lived past and seek tocapture these moments by developing adramatic and evocative text.The representation of one's own experiencesand the lived experiences of others via thesemedia offers the prospect of researchers andreaders engaging with a new and expansiveepistemology. As an example, Richardson(2003) uses creative non-fiction to illustrate amoment from an action research study inwhich a Head of Education and Welfare(HoEW) within a soccer academy manages aparticular situation. After a fierce argumentwith a coach, a player has stormed out of thechanging rooms. Expletives and a sense ofaggression accompany a slamming of doors.The player heads out onto the all-weatherpitches. Giving the impression that he istrying to get a signal for his mobile phone,the HoEW (known here as Derek) wandersacross to the corner of the pitch.Like a cowboy training a young colt Derekbecomes the youth-player whisperer… heassesses the situation, makes himself visible,provides an opportunity for the player toengage him, (having drawn the player in) heallows him to rationalise his outburst, to unpickevents, to make sense of things. AfterwardsDerek mutters "We can build from here".(p.226).Such an approach to sharing ‘knowledge’may vary markedly from portrayals in the‘natural’ sciences. Qualitative researchers canexpect peers to raise questions over thebenefits of these representational venturesand, in truth, value is closely linked to thequality of the writing. To explain briefly, wehave decided to overlay the benefits toreaders with reference to how this materialmight be judged. In this regard, Sparkes(2002) noted that the assessment of a textcould relate to whether it manages to‘engage’ readers emotionally or whether thematerial carries any sense of ‘authenticity’ or‘integrity’. Furthermore, does the text make asubstantive contribution to understanding ofthe topic in question, impact upon the readerat the emotional and intellectual level ordemonstrate expressions of reality that aredrawn from lived experiences. All the aboveseem appropriate criteria from which newforms of representation might besimultaneously considered 'beneficial' and/orjudged in quality terms.Writing about others in an emotive andrevealing way carries with it a considerableburden of responsibility. Biddle et al. (2001)warn against the unprincipled adoption of anyrepresentational practice. In that regard, it isworth emphasising that writing about othersand the lives they experience is aresponsibility that qualitative writers holddear.Cautionary thoughts and personal talesWe are aware that the prospect of writingdifferently carries a certain seductive quality.To provide a counter weight of sorts we haveopted to bring some of our own experiencesinto the text. To our mind, they offer a20Issue 2 Dec 2004 The Sport and Exercise Scientistwww.bases.org.uk