DIGITAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• Part I: Conceptualizing digital qualitative research
1. (Digital) culture, media citizenship and major event narratives
2. The datatification of everything: Towards a sociology of sport and Big Data
3. Transformative potential? Feminist approaches to digital sport media research
• Part II: Doing digital qualitative research
4. Understanding athletes’ online participation: A ticket to qualitative research on online sports arenas
5. Guarding against quick and easy: Tightening up qualitative sport and social media research
6. Research consideration when investigating psychological factors and health-related issues in online contexts
• Part III: Examples of digital qualitative research in sport and exercise
7. Mommy blogging: Understanding athlete-mother identities in a running community using discursive psychological analysis
8. Unless you go online you’re on your own: Blogging as a bridge in para-sport
9. Sponsorship goes social: Analyzing Twitter users’ discussion of French Open sponsors
10. Shaky footage from the field: Envisioning a new terrain with film-based inquiry
Afterword: Sport’s digital future: Biodigital design, e-sport, mixed reality, fan engagement and gamification

Twitter, Facebook, online forums, blogs and websites – scholars are increasingly turning to digital sources to study sport and physical activity. These platforms have generated new digital content ripe for analysis and are making it possible to investigate communities that were previously inaccessible. However, they have also created theoretical, methodological, practical and ethical challenges.

This book critically examines the opportunities open to qualitative researchers working in digital spaces and offers novel insights into how the rise of new technology is helping to shape sport studies. Showcasing original research on emerging themes, trends and issues such as digital sociology, media citizenship, online gaming, Big Data, fitness apps and online fan cultures, this collection leads the way in this fast-developing field of study. It not only considers the possibilities and limitations of using digital tools to conduct qualitative research into sport, but also provides innovative examples of how researchers can adapt successfully to ever-evolving technologies.

Digital Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Activity is essential reading for all students and scholars interested in the latest digital developments in sport studies and research methods.