second half. The general aim of the study, to investigate the lived experience of fi eld hockey players, was explained to the participants, although the authors did not completely obtain full voluntary informed consent. One way around this problem would be to explain the full purpose after the study and seek voluntary informed consent to use the interview data at that point.
Covert methods are used to investigate issues where the pursuit of the truth would be seriously compromised if participants were aware they were being investigated. The researcher gains access to a group of interest without the group providing any consent for the research study to take place. The researcher then investigates the group over a natural cycle of time through a combination of observation and conversations. The research is deceptive because the researcher conceals their true role and acts as a member or associ- ate of the group. This requires a combination of good acting skills and naïve participants. The ethical issues are that the participants do not realise they are participating in a research study and have not given their consent to be studied, the participants’ privacy is violated, the researcher is potentially placed in danger and the participants may experience embarrassment or other damaging consequences on publication of the study. As will be mentioned later in this chapter, many university research ethics committees will only approve deceptive research if the knowledge to be discovered by the research is very important and there is no other way of investigating the problem.
Sensitive aspects of behaviour
Sensitive aspects of participant behaviour can be investigated using a variety of methods, including interviews. The ethical issue is that potentially private and possibly illegal behaviour of participants is being investigated. Even where overt methods are being used, the investigation of issues such as drug use or hooliganism requires participant consent, which may be diffi cult to negotiate. Furthermore, if the research is inductive rather than testing fi xed hypotheses, the initial research proposal cannot specify the full detail of the participants’ behaviour or how it will be portrayed in any eventual research report. The conclusions drawn from the study may portray an image of the participants that they do not accept.
SPECIFIC ETHICAL ISSUES WITHIN PERFORMANCE
relevant ethical issues need be addressed. The most common types of per- formance analysis investigations are minimally invasive observational studies. The main ethical issues involved in such studies relate to fi lming, analysis of vulnerable populations, the use of publicly available data, report- ing sensitive information from case studies, anonymity of participants and access to performance data.
Filming and audio recording
Filming at sports venues is often prohibited due to contractual agreements between sports governing bodies, clubs and commercial broadcasters. Clubs and governing bodies may also sell video recordings of performances and it is necessary to protect valuable material from piracy. Indeed some profes- sional soccer clubs prohibit any recording of information by spectators. For example, a Cardiff City Football ticket for the 2008–09 season states the terms and conditions that are accepted by the purchaser:
Number 2
No person may bring into the ground any equipment which is capable of recording or transmitting audio or visual material or any information or data relating to any match, or the ground. Mobile phones are permit- ted for personal use only.
Number 7
The use of this ticket to enter the ground constitutes acceptance of such rules and regulations and CCFC reserves the right to eject from the ground, any person who fails to comply with them.
Where fi lming of sports performance is necessary within a research project, the fi lming must be carried out in an ethical manner, respecting the privacy of individuals and making responsible use of equipment. Before contacting sports organisations about fi lming, the researcher should investigate the regulations regarding fi lming at particular venues, competitions and for the sports clubs and governing bodies involved. The principle of voluntary informed consent applies to fi lming just as it applies to surveying, testing and measurement in research. In writing to a sports club or event organiser to request permission to fi lm, it is necessary to describe the purpose of the investigation so that those granting permission will be fully informed about the purpose of the study and what is being fi lmed. Assurances must be given about the use of the video footage being restricted to the research project.
Filming must be done in a way that minimises risk of damage to the equip- ment, harm to the researcher, players and other spectators. Equipment must be checked and certifi ed as safe to use at the venue. Electricity cables must be taped down to avoid people accidentally tripping over them and fi lming must be done from a location approved by the venue. Researchers given
permission to fi lm at a venue must cooperate fully with events staff at the venue. Many venues have child protection policies and procedures requiring anyone taking photographs or video recordings to complete forms with details of what is being fi lmed, the purpose of the fi lming, the use of the images as well as contact details. Once such a form has been signed and approved by the staff at the venue, a badge or label is provided that must either be displayed on the researcher’s clothing or on the camera. It is important to also consider other spectators when recording information.
For example, if using an audio recording device to verbally code observed behaviour, this must be done in a way that does not interfere with paying spectators’ enjoyment of the match.
Performance analysis support
Studying the effectiveness of performance analysis of sport typically involves providing a performance analysis service to players and teams. The percep- tions of players and teams of the feedback given can be studied (Jenkins et al., 2007) as can improvements in actual performance (Jenkins et al., 2007, Martin et al., 2004). These studies can involve the researcher keeping a log of analysis results and how these are used to inform coach decisions.
Alternatively, qualitative fi eld notes about the experience of working as an analyst can be produced. There is a vast amount of complex information that can be recorded within each match to match cycle including the follow- ing data:
Performance statistics from the match just played.
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Players available to compete in the match and their fi tness levels.
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The quality and style of play of the opposition.
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The detailed aspects of technique or tactics requiring attention that are
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identifi ed by the coach from match statistics and related video sequences.
Whether and how these aspects of the game were addressed in short-
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term training activity and advice to players.
Reasons for the priorities set by the coach for different areas to be
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addressed in training.
Coach and player perceptions of the usefulness of the instructional feed-
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back provided (statistics and/or related video sequences).
Coach and player reaction to motivational feedback provided.
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There are many squads and individual athletes in different sports who rec- ognise the benefi ts of performance analysis support but who do not have the means to pay for the service. There are ways in which basic performance analysis services can be supplied by volunteers or performance analysis stu- dents requiring work experience. One way in which support can be pro- vided is by using university staff or students who wish to study the
effectiveness of performance analysis support. This can be a mutually ben- efi cial arrangement but does give rise to some ethical questions.
First, if the coach and the squad fail to use performance analysis support in an effective way, the researcher faces a dilemma as to whether to write up the study portraying the squad’s use of the service in a negative way or to conceal genuine fi ndings of the study. The researcher may even witness some dishonest practices by the coach where players are intentionally provided with false information about their performances. There is also incompetent use of performance analysis where a coach may point to an improvement in a performance indicator that may be purely down to playing world class opposition in the previous match. There may be issues in the squad that affect performance that the researcher wishes to explain in the study. For example, a drinking culture within the squad may cancel out any advan- tages of performance analysis and other sports science support. The coach may object to the publication of such material and may wish to censor any material being written up as research. The ethical issues here apply to the researcher and to the coach. The researcher may have worked for a pro- longed period of time gathering real-world data to write an experience report about the use of performance analysis. This may have been done at the expense of other career development opportunities. The coach may have been involved in a vague agreement to permit such material to be reported.
However, on discovering the detail of the research fi ndings, the coach may prohibit the publication of the report. This may be viewed as unfair by the researcher who provided a service on a voluntary basis on an understanding that material could be used in their research. To avoid such situations, it is important that at the outset of the collaboration, the researcher, coach and athletes have a full understanding of the scope and purpose of the study and the material that the researcher is permitted to use.
Secondly, there is the issue of confi dentiality. The performance analysis system is typically developed and co-owned by the entire squad, including the performance analyst. There may be types of analysis done that give the squad an advantage over their opponents. This effective process of analysis is something that the squad may wish to keep secret but which the researcher may wish to write up as an example of best practice. There may be ways in which the researcher can describe the development and operation of the performance analysis support in vague terms, but this will affect the chances of the research being published. The potential of such confl icts arising between the squad’s need for confi dentiality and the researcher’s need to write a complete and accurate research paper can be reduced by detailed discussion and agreement of what may be used as research material at the outset of the collaboration.
Thirdly, there may be failings by the analyst. These may include fi lming errors, coding errors, failing to provide feedback in time, favouritism to some players through providing them with additional feedback material, dishonest practices related to known limits in reliability and there may be health and
safety issues in the way equipment was used. In providing a performance anal- ysis service, the researcher should not only act ethically as a researcher but should also act professionally and responsibly as a performance analyst.
Using public domain data
There is a wealth of publicly available sports performance data that are used in performance analysis investigations of tennis (Brown and O’Donoghue, 2008b), soccer (Rowlinson and O’Donoghue, 2009), netball (O’Donoghue et al., 2008), athletics (Brown, 2005) and many other sports. Professional players are paid by their clubs or receive appearance money or prize money from the events they compete in. These professional clubs and sports events receive money from broadcasting companies which in turn receive money from the subscribers to the given television channels. In signing for such a club or entering such a tournament, the player has already agreed to partici- pate in matches that may be televised and have thus given their consent for information about their performances to be made public. Therefore, academic researchers do not need to obtain voluntary informed consent to use publicly available television images of performance within research investigations.
Indeed, there are investigations that have identifi ed particular athletes (Brown, 2005, Hughes and Franks, 2004d, O’Donoghue, 2004, 2009a).
There are some ethical issues in using publicly available material that should be recognised by performance analysis researchers. Broadcast mate- rial is often provided commercially and, therefore, researchers or their uni- versities should subscribe to the television channels that provide the material.
The material should not be passed on to other researchers who may not be subscribers to the television channel. The researcher should also avoid pre- senting results in a manner that could unfairly risk social and fi nancial harm to players, coaches or referees.
Some research journals and professional bodies prohibit the naming of individual participants within papers and other research outputs. Others provide conditions requiring participants to give permission to be identifi ed in the paper. For example, the author guidelines for Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise (2009) contain the following statement within the ‘Policy Statement Regarding the Use of Human Subjects and Informed Consent’:
An explanation of the procedures to be taken to ensure the confi dential- ity of the data and information to be derived from the subject. If sub- jects are to be identifi ed by name in the manuscript, permission for same should be obtained in the Informed Consent Form or obtained in writing at a later date.
Where journals prohibit the identifi cation of players, researchers whose work identifi es players should choose other outlets in which to publish their research.