The previous section was concerned with broad research types without specifying the nature of the data involved, how the data are collected or how the data are analysed. This section describes methods used to gather and analyse data that can be used within broad research processes. Figure 2.2 shows that data gathering and analysis methods can be qualitative, quantitative or, in the case of some questionnaires, can contain a combina- tion of both qualitative and quantitative data.
Interviews
Interviews are used for many different purposes, but in research the aim of using an interview is to learn about the experience, motives, attitude, beliefs and opinions of the interviewee. They can be used within different types of research including historical research, survey research and case studies.
Interviews are typically done in person but it is also possible for the researcher to use a team of trained interviewers or for an interview to be conducted using telephone or Skype communication. Interviews are either audio or video recorded allowing a transcript of the interview to be produced and analysed. (The analysis of interview data is covered in Chapter 9.) Where the interview is video recorded, it is possible to analyse both verbal and non- verbal communication. The main advantages of interviews over question- naires are that they permit in-depth discussion of the topics of interest, probing, clarifi cation and fl exibility.
There are different types of interview that can be classifi ed by whether an individual or group is being interviewed on each occasion as well as by the style of question and answer communication that is used. An interview could use a predefi ned set of questions with no scope for fl exibility, com- pletely unstructured or semi-structured. Group interviews are useful as responses can be corroborated or challenged by other group members. The interviews are planned so that sub-topics are known, based on preliminary reviews of relevant literature. An interview guide is useful to ensure that all of the sub-topics of interest are discussed during the interview. There are also disadvantages to interviews in that they use a small set of participants and occasionally a single participant.
Interviews have been used in conjunction with performance analysis research. For example, Donnelly and O’Donoghue (2008) analysed the behaviour of coaches of three different levels of netball player and inter- viewed the most senior coach in their sample. The results showed that coaches of higher level players showed greater variability between sessions than coaches of lower level players. However, while the performance analysis methods could identify this difference, they could not explain the difference.
Therefore, an interview was used to discuss the performance analysis results with the most senior coach to seek explanations for the differences found.
Another example of the combined use of performance analysis and interview- ing was a dissertation by Greene (2008) on 400m hurdles performance. The
Qualitative
Participant Observation
Non-Participant Observation
Role- Playing
Accounts Interviews Questionnaires
Quantitative
Observational Experimental
testing Open Closed
Non- Directed Unstructured
Structured Focused
Group Interviews Figure 2.2 Data gathering and analysis methods
performance analysis study validated a set of performance indicators that could potentially be used to monitor athlete performance over a season and support decisions made by coaches and high performance directors. Greene (2008) produced results in a form that could be provided to practitioners and showed these to an international 400m hurdles coach during an inter- view about how such results could be used in elite athletics. Interviews can also be used in the early stages of performance analysis research projects to determine areas of performance that can be worked into potential perform- ance indicators to be investigated (McCorry et al., 1996).
Questionnaires
Questionnaires are written or electronic forms to be completed by respond- ents for analysis by the researcher. Questionnaires allow a greater number of participants to be surveyed than interviews. However, questionnaires do not permit the level of probing or fl exibility that interviews do.
There are many different types of questionnaire, including self-completion questionnaires, which could be administered in person or sent and returned by post. There are also questionnaires to be completed by the researcher while asking questions in the presence of the respondent or during a telephone call.
Self-completion questionnaires have the advantage that the researcher does not need to be present when they are completed by respondents. This can help ensure accurate responses, especially if the questionnaires are anonymous. A disadvantage of self-completion questionnaires is that they require much greater development effort to ensure that they are complete, clear, well designed, well presented and provided with suffi cient supporting instructions and incentives for the respondent. Questionnaires have four main sources of limitations that need to be recognised by those undertaking questionnaire surveys (Kirk-Smith, 1998). These limitations relate to:
1. theory building;
2. validity of self-report;
3. measurement; and 4. analysis.
Questionnaires involve question-answer communication that can be used to characterise or diagnose a problem and factors associated with it. However, in the absence of experimental intervention, there is no evidence to determine whether there is a causal link between any factors associated with the problem and the problem itself. This renders questionnaire evidence weak when it comes to developing theory relating to the problem of interest.
Questionnaires, like interviews, are a self-report and the link between questionnaire response and actual behaviour can be questioned. Respondents’
(genuine) attitudes and beliefs may not predict their (genuine) actions. There are many factors that infl uence the accuracy of self-reports including image
management and social desirability effect. Essentially, the respondent does not wish to look foolish when completing a questionnaire and will answer questions in a way that gives a positive impression. Questionnaires may relate to real-world behaviour contexts in different situations, but the ques- tionnaire is completed by a participant away from that real-world context.
Participants being asked what they might do if their bag were snatched by thieves on the street, might give what they consider to be an honest answer.
However, in such a situation, the participant may not behave the way they believe they would. In answering the question, they may not have imagined the full scenario they are being asked about and may not realise how little they are aware about how they would actually behave. Another issue is that most behaviour is habitual, but answering a question requires more thought.
Therefore, people may not know the causes of their own actions.
There are a number of measurement issues in the use of questionnaires that need to be considered. Investigator bias may be present in the selection of questions asked, the way in which questions are asked and the order in which they are asked. Respondents may perceive there to be an agenda in the research being done and the decisions that could be taken as a result of the study. This might infl uence how they respond to questions. The scales of measurement used for rating questions might not allow suffi cient discrimi- nation between different levels of the concept being rated. A further issue is that where questionnaires are used before and after some experimental period, it is possible that respondents may remember their pre-test answers when completing the post-test. This raises a question about the accuracy of the responses and if any pre-post-changes reported refl ect actual pre-post-changes. Questions may not have been so relevant to the respond- ents during the pre-test, but after the experimental period, those questions have greater importance to the respondents and this differing context of questionnaire completion may infl uence the responses made.
The fourth area of limitation of questionnaires described by Kirk-Smith (1998) was the analysis of data. Researchers should defi ne the purpose of the study and design the questionnaire in a way that analysis is done to answer the stated research question. Booth (cited in Kirk-Smith, 1998) used the term ‘multivariate data grubbing’ to describe analysis that some may be tempted to do, given the sophistication of data analysis packages and data mining routines available today.
Despite these limitations, which researchers should recognise, question- naires are undeniably useful in many areas of research. Previous research in performance analysis has used questionnaires within part of the study (Blaze et al., 2004, Hale, 2004, Jenkins et al., 2007). Hale (2004) compared com- petitive and training matches in netball using time-motion analysis, inter- views and the DM-CSAI-2 instrument. The purpose of the DM-CSAI-2 instrument within the study was to identify whether the intensity or direc- tion of different types of anxiety differed between the two types of game.
Blaze et al. (2007) surveyed 10 English FA Premier League clubs to describe
the current use of performance analysis within elite soccer clubs. Part of the study done by Jenkins et al. (2007) provided motivational videos to a netball squad and then used a questionnaire to record players’ beliefs and attitudes about the provision of motivational videos. Due to the limited number of players within the squad (n = 12), this questionnaire was composed entirely of open questions, allowing rich qualitative information about the useful- ness of motivational videos to be analysed.
Questionnaires have been used as an alternative to observational techniques in monitoring physical activity. Montoye et al. (1996: 34–41) described exercise diaries and activity recall questionnaires, their validity, advantages and disad- vantages. There is a trade-off between feasibility of data collection, reliability of measurement and number of participants that can be included in a study. It is neither feasible nor productive for an observer to watch a participant 24 hours per day to record those periods where moderate or high intensity activity is being performed. Observational techniques may be more reliable than data based on participants’ recall of their physical activity, but there are still limitations to observational techniques. A greater number of participants can be included in a study of recreational activity if activity recall questionnaires rather than observa- tional methods are used.
To date, there appears to have been a greater use of interviews than ques- tionnaires within performance analysis of sport research. The reason for this could be that researchers using mixed methods like to use methods that are as complementary as possible, which favours the use of the most quali- tative techniques.
Testing and measurement
Testing and measurement are data gathering activities that can be used within different types of research including experiments, observational studies, surveys, case studies and longitudinal research. Experimental studies will typically manipulate some independent variable to determine the effect on some hypothesised dependent variable. The independent variable could be whether or not some training programme is being undertaken over an experimental period. The dependent variables are typically tests of some ability or fi tness characteristic. An example of such a study was a quasi- experimental study done by King and O’Donoghue (2003) into the effec- tiveness of a 13-week specifi c intermittent high intensity training session for under-14 county level Gaelic footballers. This study used a 20m sprint test, a vertical jump test, a multistage fi tness test (Ramsbottom et al., 1988) and a test of eight 40m agility runs (Baker et al., 1993). These were performed by all participants before and after the 13-week experimental period. There are general tests of other attributes of fi tness such as standing long jump, medicine ball throw, sit and reach tests, anthropometric tests (Hughes, 2008) as well as sports-specifi c tests for racket sports (Hughes, 2008) and fi eld tests (Carling et al., 2009: 115–26, 154–7). These tests have been devel-
oped, specifi ed and validated within the sports science literature. The use of these fi tness tests is not confi ned to pre- and post-testing in experiments, but fi tness surveys can also incorporate these tests (NIFS, 1989). Tests of visual perception, anticipation and decision making have also been developed and applied within soccer research (Carling et al., 2009: 43–69).
Observational research is a broad research type that can be undertaken using quantitative measurements or qualitative techniques. Where observa- tional research involves quantitative measurement, measurements of aspects of real-world behaviour are made rather than performances within a controlled fi tness test. The types of measure that can be made include counts of events, timings of behaviours and distances covered. Some of these measurements can be made with fully automated measurement techniques such as GPS equip- ment (Carling et al., 2009: 91–3), mainly automated systems, such as ProZone3® or systems requiring extensive operator activity (Montoye et al., 1996: 26-32). For recreational activity, pedometers and other movement detection devices can also be used (Montoye et al., 1996: 72–90).
Field notes
Field notes are produced and analysed during qualitative research that involves fi eld work. A researcher enters the fi eld either covertly or overtly for the purpose of investigating the activity of a group of interest. Field notes have a disadvantage compared to interview transcripts because the interview transcripts contain data that come directly from the participants.
Field notes may be written up after sessions in the fi eld and are limited by the researcher’s ability to recall the events that occurred. Spradley (1979:
74–6) recommended using four types of fi eld notes:
1. Short notes made during the fi eld episode – this is not always possible, especially if fi eld work is being done covertly.
2. Expanded notes to be made as soon as possible after a session in the fi eld.
3. A fi eld work journal reporting problems occurring during fi eld work.
4. A provisional running record of analysis and interpretation of fi eld data.
The use of fi eld notes is covered in greater detail in Chapter 9.