Qualitative research in six sport and exercise psychology journals between 2010 and 2017: An updated and expanded review of trends and interpretations

Understanding the staff cancer through the perceived experiences of varsity male soccer players

“…Finally, this research helps to extend sport, exercise, and health research by showcasing the use of a critical realist paradigm, a paradigm seldom used within sports psychology literature (McGannon et al 2019). Recently, Wiltshire (2018) provided a theoretical overview of how sport and exercise psychology researchers may situate their work within critical realism; however, examples of this work are few and far between.…”

“…Participant comfort when discussing mental health concerns is important to consider, as athletes may suppress their mental health concerns for reasons including embarrassment or stigma (Gulliver, Griffiths, and Christensen 2012), and the continuous suppression of mental health issues can exacerbate symptomology, leading to other mental health concerns, such as sleep disorders, major depressive disorder, and suicide (see Reardon et al 2019 for a review). Researchers should continue exploring methods beyond the go-to semi-structured interview when collecting data (McGannon et al 2019), as using of different methods, such as photo elicitation and arts-based conversational interviews, may contribute to different ways of generating knowledge by maintaining participants fluid accounts and understanding perceived experiences in empathetic and multisensory ways (Culver, Gilbert, and Sparkes 2012). To our understanding, this is the first research project to examine a negative informal role through using non-traditional, sensitive methods to collect data, and, therefore, this research extends the literature by showcasing that sensitive research topics, such as athlete mental health, may be accessed and shared through non-traditional data collection methods (Blodgett et al 2013;Epstein et al 2006;Harper 2002).…”

“…However, we do recognise that these methods for maintaining rigour may change given the methodological plurality of critical realism (Danermark, Ekström, and Karlsson 2019). We recommend that researchers remain open and coherent in their methodological, epistemological, and ontological stances when conducting research grounded in critical realism, as openness and coherence can also help to enhance rigour (see McGannon et al 2019). Finally, we recognise that phenomena may differ by context due to the open nature of social systems.…”

Expanding socio-cultural identity research in sport psycho-logy: The potential of athlete autobiographies

“…Despite their ubiquity and cultural presence, Andrew Sparkes and Carly Stewart (2016) noted that trustworthiness of autobiographies as data (re)sources may be questioned by those grounding research in realist understandings of identity and seeking objectivity or accuracy, as they may be ghost written and/or produced for profit or sensationalism. Underscoring a lack of trust in autobiographies as data sources is the privileging of interviews as the gold standard in qualitative research (McGannon, Smith et al, 2019;Sparkes & Stewart, 2016).…”

Qualitative research in sports studies: challenges, possibilities and the current state of play

“…Against this background, several key discussions have accompanied increases in the number and variety of qualitative approaches in sports studies. These discussions have both reinvigorated several key debates in relation to the 'hows' and 'whys' of qualitative research and have simultaneously provided a strong foundation for future work (see for example McGannon et al, 2019;Smith & Sparkes, 2016a;Sparkes & Smith, 2009. Innovative methods and approaches abound, with an ever-increasing expansion in the range and ambition of qualitative methodologies.…”