INTRODUCTION
An analysis of sports-related journals published in the last decade reveals that two main methods – the questionnaire survey and interview – dominate the research literature. As Kellehear (1993, p.1) suggests, this may be due to the fact that these are the obvious methods by which to elicit information from others. As he says:
There is today, in social science circles, a simple and persistent belief that knowledge about people is available simply by asking.
We ask people about themselves, and they tell us.
There is, however, an ever increasing acceptance of other methods, especially those that we can refer to as unobtrusive methods (sometimes
■ Introduce two forms of unobtrusive method – observation and content analysis.
■ Introduce some of the advantages and disadvantages of using unobtrusive methods in your research project.
■ Outline the procedure by which each of the methods described can be carried out.
■ Briefly outline the various sources of data that may be used for a content analysis.
In this chapter we will:
referred to as non-reactive measures). Unobtrusive methods are methods which do not have any effect upon the social environment under investigation, and require no interaction between subject and researcher that may otherwise influence the data collected. This chapter introduces two forms of unobtrusive method, observation and content analysis, and outlines their potential use in sports-related research.
ADVANTAGES OF UNOBTRUSIVE METHODS
■ Unobtrusive measures do not disturb or affect the social environment in any way. Because the methods are unobtrusive, participants are unlikely to react to them, and alter their behaviours. As a consequence, they are often repeatable, and the researcher can revisit the research site to collect additional data.
■ Unobtrusive measures may therefore be stronger in measuring actual behaviour, which is not always the same as reported behaviour.
Interviews, focus groups and questionnaire surveys are always prone to the possibility that respondents will provide false or incorrect data.
Thus it could be argued that the validity and reliability of such approaches may be enhanced.
■ Access to data may often be easier. For some unobtrusive measures, such as certain observational data collection, permission will not always be required.
DISADVANTAGES OF UNOBTRUSIVE METHODS
■ As the researcher is not interacting with the participants in the same way, then it may be difficult to understand or explain the phenomenon under investigation. Whilst it may be relatively straightforward to describe what is happening, it may be more difficult to gain a clear understanding of why it is happening.
■ In the same way that interview responses can be distorted to present a particular image or viewpoint, data collected by unobtrusive measures can also be subject to distortion, especially if the subjects are aware of the research.
■ For unobtrusive methods such as observation, data collection may be difficult without the use of specialist photographic or video recording equipment.
OBSERVATION AND PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Observation is, arguably, the most neglected research technique in sport, yet it has a number of advantages. Questionnaires and interviews rely on self-reporting by participants in research. This may lead to bias from respondents who may wish to alter information about themselves, or from those who cannot accurately recall or verbalise events. An alternative is to observe behaviour, rather than to question people about it. Observation is often classified as either participant or non-participant observation. Non- participant observation is the simplest form, and is where the researcher will observe the phenomenon ‘from outside’ with no engagement with either the activity or the subjects. An example of this would be observing how many people used a particular sports facility at a particular time. This could be done using various techniques, for example video, photography, or simply watching and recording the data on an appropriate sheet.
The second form is that of participant observation, where the researcher actually takes part in the phenomenon being studied. An example could be where the researcher investigating issues of customer care may actually use a sports facility, and collect data about his or her own experience as a user, to try to gain an ‘insider’s’ understanding. Data in this instance would be recorded by the researcher in the form of field notes, whereby the researcher’s experiences would be recorded. This is not, technically, an unobtrusive method, as the researcher may have some effect upon the social environment, although it could be argued that this impact should be minimal, and that the researcher should not set out to alter the behaviour of others in any way.
WHEN IS OBSERVATION APPROPRIATE?
Non-participant observation is an appropriate method when the phenomenon under investigation can be directly observed. Thus, if you are interested in researching whether sports fans are more likely to wear clothing related to their team after they have won, as Cialdini et al. (1976) found, then observation is a suitable method. If, however, you want to identify why they are more likely to wear such clothing, then observation would be inappropriate, as it would not be able to collect data to answer such a question. Observation is generally more suitable for descriptive research rather than for explanatory research. A second justification for the use of observation would be when other methods are inappropriate.
A good example of this would be investigating patterns of play in children’s sports. Children themselves would almost certainly be unable to accurately describe how they play sport, therefore interviewing or using a questionnaire would be unreliable. Observation would allow you to describe the children’s play more accurately, especially – as an unobtru- sive researcher – you would be less likely to influence their behaviour in any way. Observation can also be a useful method if researching con- tentious issues, such as violence in sport. Respondents may be unlikely to accurately report their own violent or aggressive behaviour, or may even over-report such behaviour in some cases. Unobtrusive observation would allow you to assess the validity of such claims made by participants. It is often used in combination with other methods, and such triangulation (see Chapter 7) will help strengthen the validity of your research.
Observation can also be used in a non-triangulation manner with other methods. Take, for example, the case of the sports clothing described above. Observation would allow you to identify that individuals do wear their team’s clothes more after they have won. Another method, such as in-depth interviews, may allow you to explain why they do so. Thus such methods can be complementary.
THE USE OF OBSERVATIONAL METHODS:
DETERMINING THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS OF PRE-ADOLESCENTS
The benefits of physical activity amongst the young have been well documented. One of Sport England’s drivers to increased activity is that of the promotion of physical activity within schools. The physical activity experiences of young children, however, seem to be mixed. Hence Waring et al. (2007) wanted to identify the levels of activity amongst this age group. Interviews, questionnaires or focus groups were considered inappropriate for this because of the age of children, and their inability to accurately recall the required information. It may also have been possible that children would want to over-report their own levels of physical activity. The phenomena itself, however, needs to be appropriate for observation, and in this instance observation was particularly useful as physical activity
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CASE STUDY
Participant observation is appropriate when you are interested in uncovering some of the more subtle features of group behaviour, and trying to uncover meanings that are not directly observable. The researcher experiences, rather than observes, what is going on, and it is this experience that provides the data for the researcher.
generally takes places within a confined space (a school hall or playing field, for example). Whilst certain aspects of activity (such as heart rate) could not be directly observed, the apparent levels of physical activity could be.
The study involved 374 children being directly observed and level of exercise judged and recorded every fifteen seconds. To ensure reliability, all observers received detailed training sessions to ensure that their interpretations of vigorous and moderate activity were valid, and that recording was standardised between observers. This allowed the researchers to identify that children were actually undertaking relatively low levels of moderate physical activity whilst at school, with girls undertaking less than boys, suggesting that schools are not meeting their potential as drivers of physical activity.
PARTICIPATION OBSERVATION TO INVESTIGATE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Kim and Taggart (2004) explored teachers’ perceptions of physical education in an urban Korean primary school, a context where the authors describe the ‘loss of the class’, where teachers allowed pupils complete freedom, with little or no instruction provided, with difficulties in achieving pupil engagement with physical activity.
One of the researchers had previously worked within a school teaching physical education, and this allowed them to undertake participant observation as a method to collect data, as well as take advantage of the close relationships that were formed with teachers,
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CASE STUDY
ADVANTAGES OF OBSERVATIONAL METHODS
Participant and non-participant observation both have a number of advantages that make them well suited for data collection in certain circumstances. The advantages can be listed as follows:
■ Directness. It is possible to record a phenomenon as and when it happens, rather than having to rely on an individual’s recall of a particular event.
■ Takes place in a ‘natural setting’. The researcher is able to observe the phenomenon in its natural setting, rather than in the rather ‘artificial’
surroundings of an interview or whilst completing a questionnaire.
This allows the researcher to observe the context in which such behaviour takes place, and – in the case of participant observation – to experience that context for themselves.
■ The identification of behaviours not apparent to the subject. The individual may simply be unaware of how they behave in a particular situation, or believe that they act in an entirely different way.
Observation will allow the researcher to identify the ‘true’ behaviour.
■ The identification of behaviours that the subject may be unwilling to disclose. This is an issue when researching potentially sensitive subjects. Respondents may be unwilling to incriminate themselves in an interview or questionnaire. It may be possible to observe such behaviours, however.
DISADVANTAGES OF OBSERVATIONAL METHODS
Although observational techniques do have their advantages, there are also a number of potential disadvantages of which you need to be aware:
which, arguably, provided better data than that if the researcher had maintained a role as ‘outsider’. This was reinforced by the researcher being able to help and support some of the other teachers in their roles, to form trust, and thus allow triangulation between her experiences, and those of the other teachers.
■ Misunderstanding of the phenomenon. A drawback to observational methods is the likelihood that the researcher may simply mis- understand what they are seeing, especially if they are researching a subject in which they have little or no experience. This may be overcome to some extent through using observation in conjunction with other methods, such as interviewing, to ensure that the pheno- menon has been correctly understood. As Gilhespy (2006) points out, it is not simply a case of looking and recording. Instead, what we look for, and perceive as significant are influenced by our own values, and this must be recognised by the researcher.
■ Difficulties in data recording. What to actually look for, and how to ensure that nothing of importance is missed are key issues in observational research. The use of technology, such as video record- ing, may prevent this to some extent, but this is often an unrealistic option for many researchers. An alternative is to have a number of researchers each recording the phenomenon, in which case inter- observer reliability becomes an issue (see Chapter 6) unless suitable training is given (see the case study on determining physical activity levels of pre-adolescents, above).
■ The effect of the observer on the subjects. It is always possible that the researcher will affect the subjects’ behaviour to such an extent that it may invalidate the entire research. The option of covert observation exists, where the subjects are unaware that they are being watched.
However, this raises two issues: first the ethical question, that is whether it is ethical to undertake research on a group without them being aware of the research, or without the option of not taking part in the research; and second the issue of how the researcher records their data without making the subjects aware that they are doing so.
CARRYING OUT AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
As with any other means of data collection, it is important that you don’t rush into the data gathering stage of the research without care- ful consideration of what data is required. It is often tempting to observe a sporting phenomenon and collect reams of data, only to find that such data is inadequate for the purposes of the research. Thus, you should carefully plan and pilot your data collection (especially if you are observing a one-off event). A number of planning stages can be identified:
1 Defining the variable(s) under investigation. The first stage is to identify the variable(s) to be observed. Are you interested in a particular behaviour, for example? Ensure you are clear about what exactly you are recording. If you are observing usage at a particular sports facility, then are you interested in quantitative measures such as the number of users, the breakdown between male and female users, etc; or are you more interested in qualitative measures such as how they use the facility, their patterns of behaviour and so on? You should relate these issues back to your research objectives, that is determine what information is required to achieve these objectives, and what data is needed to provide such information, and identify the variables as appropriate.
2 Decide on your sample. Your sample should, ideally, be systematically chosen. Once you have decided upon your variables, you need to decide from which individual or group you will collect your data. As well as sampling particular individuals, behaviours and so on, you will also need to choose a sample of times. Sometimes you will be able to sample an entire event, such as a single sports match. Other- wise you will need to choose when you will make your observations.
3 Decide how the variables are to be recorded. Will you use video recording equipment or rely upon making notes with a pen and paper?
Can you produce a pre-determined data sheet that simply needs to be filled in, or will you collect all data longhand?
4 Pilot your study. In exactly the same way that you would pre-test a questionnaire or interview schedule using a pilot study, then you should pre-test your observation, and identify any potential factors that may affect your data collection beforehand.
RECORDING DATA
Provided you have clearly identified the variables under investigation, the recording of quantitative data should be relatively straightforward.
Generally it will involve the recording of information using a simple checklist, for example the checklist shown in Figure 10.1, which is taken from a study into basketball tactics and strategies.
It is difficult to record more than one variable at a time, so you should avoid recording large numbers of variables, unless you are using tech- niques such as video recording. If you do need to record more variables without the use of such technology, then you should either alternate