176 research outputs found
The Football Associationâs Child Protection in Football Research Project 2002-2006: Rationale, design and first year results
In common with most sport organisations, the English Football Association has come relatively recently to the issue of child protection. Abuses of various kinds have been known about in the sport for many years but, until the late 1990s, very little systematic work was undertaken to address this. The launch of a Child Protection Strategy by the Engalish FA in May 2000 reflected recognition by those in authority within the sport that child abuse and protection were properly the subject of football policy and should become embedded in all aspects of the affiliated game. In addition to adopting child protection, the then-Chief Executive Officer of the FA made a commitment to evidence-based policy in his strategic plan for the game. In line with this commitment, the FA commissioned a 5 year study of the impact of child protection on the game, the first year of which constituted an audit of the state of child protection in the affiliated game. Data were collected through 11 internet surveys, 32 club case studies, over 200 interviews with various stakeholders and an analysis of 132 case files for child abuse referrals. This paper sets out the context of child protection in sport more generally and the background to the FA's child protection reseach project in particular. It also presents selected first year results for key stakeholder groups
Measuring the impact of child protection through Activation States
Child protection (CP) has risen to the top of the UK sports policy agenda in the past four years and the Football Association has invested in this major strategy as part of its commitment to âuse the power of football to build a better futureâ (FA, 2000a). Evidencing the impact of child protection is, however, a complex task, exacerbated by the dearth of measurement tools that exist for this purpose in sport. This article presents a new model of âActivation Statesâ that has been designed and used to measure shifts in football culture as child protection has begun to impact upon the sport. The model is used to map changes over time related to the knowledge, feelings, actions and discourses of key stakeholders in football. The research for which the model was designed is a longitudinal study, commissioned by the English Football (soccer) Association, on the impact of the organisationâs child protection strategy on the culture of soccer. Sample data from the project are used to illustrate the model and to examine its potential and limitations as a tool for measuring impacts in child protection and other social inclusion themes
Maximising transparency in a doctoral thesis: The complexities of writing about the use of QSR*NVIVO within a grounded theory study
This paper discusses the challenges of how to provide a transparent account of the use of the software programme QSR*NVIVO (QSR 2000) within a Grounded Theory framework (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1998). Psychology students are increasingly pursuing qualitative research projects such to the extent that the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) advise that students should have skill in the use of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) (Economic and Social Research Council 2001). Unlike quantitative studies, rigid formulae do not exist for writing-up qualitative projects for doctoral theses. Most authors, however, agree that transparency is essential when communicating the findings of qualitative research. Sparkes (2001) recommends that evaluative criteria for qualitative research should be commensurable with the aims, objectives, and epistemological assumptions of the research project. Likewise, the use of CAQDAS should vary according to the research methodology followed, and thus researchers should include a discussion of how CAQDAS was used. This paper describes how the evolving process of coding data, writing memos, categorising, and theorising were integrated into the written thesis. The structure of the written document is described including considerations about restructuring and the difficulties of writing about an iterative process within a linear document
Kondo Effect in a Metal with Correlated Conduction Electrons: Diagrammatic Approach
We study the low-temperature behavior of a magnetic impurity which is weakly
coupled to correlated conduction electrons. To account for conduction electron
interactions a diagrammatic approach in the frame of the 1/N expansion is
developed. The method allows us to study various consequences of the conduction
electron correlations for the ground state and the low-energy excitations. We
analyse the characteristic energy scale in the limit of weak conduction
electron interactions. Results are reported for static properties (impurity
valence, charge susceptibility, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat) in
the low-temperature limit.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Defining appropriateness in coach-athlete sexual relationships: The voice of coaches
The sporting culture, with omnipotent coaches, fierce competition for recognition and funding, and âwin at all costâ ethos, creates an environment conducive to sexual exploitation of athletes. Recent increased public awareness and the development of child protection policies in sport have led to the questioning of previously accepted coach-athlete relationships. This study is an exploratory investigation into male swimming coachesâ perceptions of appropriateness of coach-athlete sexual relationships. Sexual relationships with athletes under the age of 16 were unanimously considered totally inappropriate. With regard to sexual relationships with athletes above the age of consent for heterosexual sex, opinions ranged from âtotally inappropriateâ to âitâs a question of civil liberties.â These results are discussed in relation to how coaches have adapted their own behaviours in the face of public scrutiny but are still reluctant to restrict the rights of their fellow coaches
Polymer depletion interaction between two parallel repulsive walls
The depletion interaction between two parallel repulsive walls confining a
dilute solution of long and flexible polymer chains is studied by
field-theoretic methods. Special attention is paid to self-avoidance between
chain monomers relevant for polymers in a good solvent. Our direct approach
avoids the mapping of the actual polymer chains on effective hard or soft
spheres. We compare our results with recent Monte Carlo simulations [A. Milchev
and K. Binder, Eur. Phys. J. B 3, 477 (1998)] and with experimental results for
the depletion interaction between a spherical colloidal particle and a planar
wall in a dilute solution of nonionic polymers [D. Rudhardt, C. Bechinger, and
P. Leiderer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1330 (1998)].Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. Final version as publishe
The complex light-curve of the afterglow of GRB071010A
We present and discuss the results of an extensive observational campaign
devoted to GRB071010A, a long-duration gamma-ray burst detected by the Swift
satellite. This event was followed for almost a month in the
optical/near-infrared (NIR) with various telescopes starting from about 2min
after the high-energy event. Swift-XRT observations started only later at about
0.4d. The light-curve evolution allows us to single out an initial rising phase
with a maximum at about 7min, possibly the afterglow onset in the context of
the standard fireball model, which is then followed by a smooth decay
interrupted by a sharp rebrightening at about 0.6d. The rebrightening was
visible in both the optical/NIR and X-rays and can be interpreted as an episode
of discrete energy injection, although various alternatives are possible. A
steepening of the afterglow light curve is recorded at about 1d. The entire
evolution of the optical/NIR afterglow is consistent with being achromatic.
This could be one of the few identified GRB afterglows with an achromatic break
in the X-ray through the optical/NIR bands. Polarimetry was also obtained at
about 1d, just after the rebrightening and almost coincident with the
steepening. This provided a fairly tight upper limit of 0.9% for the
polarized-flux fraction.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS, in pres
The complex light-curve of the afterglow of GRB071010A
We present and discuss the results of an extensive observational campaign
devoted to GRB071010A, a long-duration gamma-ray burst detected by the Swift
satellite. This event was followed for almost a month in the
optical/near-infrared (NIR) with various telescopes starting from about 2min
after the high-energy event. Swift-XRT observations started only later at about
0.4d. The light-curve evolution allows us to single out an initial rising phase
with a maximum at about 7min, possibly the afterglow onset in the context of
the standard fireball model, which is then followed by a smooth decay
interrupted by a sharp rebrightening at about 0.6d. The rebrightening was
visible in both the optical/NIR and X-rays and can be interpreted as an episode
of discrete energy injection, although various alternatives are possible. A
steepening of the afterglow light curve is recorded at about 1d. The entire
evolution of the optical/NIR afterglow is consistent with being achromatic.
This could be one of the few identified GRB afterglows with an achromatic break
in the X-ray through the optical/NIR bands. Polarimetry was also obtained at
about 1d, just after the rebrightening and almost coincident with the
steepening. This provided a fairly tight upper limit of 0.9% for the
polarized-flux fraction.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS, in pres
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