Rethinking validity in qualitative sport and exercise psychology research: a realist perspective

Over the last two decades, the relativist approach has significantly shaped debates about the quality and rigour of qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology (SEP). In the absence of any published critiques of relativism in SEP, this paper problematises its central claims with a focus on the most recent contribution offered by Smith and McGannon (2018 Smith, B., & McGannon, K. R. (2018). Developing rigor in qualitative research: Problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11, 101–121. doi: 10.1080/1750984X.2017.1317357[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]. Developing rigor in qualitative research: problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11, 101–121). Despite making valuable contributions to the advancement and acceptance of qualitative research, we argue that the relativist approach encounters numerous problems when attempting to reject the “anything goes” problem due to its fundamental ontological commitment to internal, multiple, mind-dependent realities. This paper then makes a constructive contribution to the field by offering an alternative position grounded in a realist understanding of validity. We first suggest that principles such as ontological plausibility, empirical adequacy and practical utility can re-orient both critical thinking and the use of practical techniques which can reduce threats to validity. Second, we suggest that Maxwell’s (1992. Understanding and validity in qualitative research. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 279–301) descriptive, interpretive and theoretical validity could be welcome concepts for qualitative researchers in SEP. The significance of this realist approach for researchers, reviewers and editors is discussed.peerReviewe

‘Strong and courageous’ but ‘constantly insecure’ : Dialogical self theory, intersecting identities, and Christian mixed martial arts

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"Kun huonona päivänä pystyn luotsaamaan laulamisen voimalla kauppareissun ilman raivareita..." Erityislasten vanhempien minäpystyvyyskäsitykset vanhemmuuden arjessa.

Vanhempien minäpystyvyysuskomukset voivat vaikuttaa merkittävällä tavalla perheen elämään ja lasten saamaan kasvatukseen ja tukeen. Erityislapsiperheillä vanhempien minäpystyvyys voi muodostua vieläkin merkittävämmäksi arjen hyvinvointia ja toimintaa määrittäväksi tekijäksi. Tämä tutkielma on toteutettu yhteistyössä Erityislasten Omaiset ELO Ry:n kanssa. Tavoitteena oli tutkia erityislasten vanhempien minäpystyvyyskäsityksiä vanhemmuuden arjessa. Päätutkimuskysymys oli: Millainen on erityislasten vanhempien käsitys minäpystyvyydestään vanhemmuuden arjessa? Sille määriteltiin myös kolme täsmentävää alatutkimuskysymystä, joihin vastattiin sekä määrällistä että laadullista aineistoa tuottaneella sähköisellä kyselyllä. Aineisto koostui 61 erityislapsen vanhemman vastauksesta (n=61). Määrällisessä analyysissa käytettiin kuvailevia- ja monimuuttujamenetelmiä. Tutkimusaineistoa analysoitiin SPSS-ohjelmalla ja menetelminä käytettiin faktorianalyysia, summamuuttujia, boxplot-kuviota ja ryhmittelyanalyysia. Tutkimuksen laadullinen osuus toteutettiin fenomenografisen tutkimusotteen keinoin. Fenomenografisen analyysin keskeisenä tuloksena muodostettiin kolme kuvauskategoriaa, jotka olivat seuraavat: (1) Onnistunut arki: Vanhemmuutta ja arkea tukevat tekijät, (2) Arjen haasteet: Vanhemmuutta ja arkea haastavat tekijät ja (3) ELOlta saatu ja toivottu tuki arkeen ja vanhemmuuteen. Faktorianalyysin avulla muodostettiin kyselylomakkeen väittämistä neljä summamuuttujaa: Aiemmat epäonnistumisen ja onnistumisen kokemukset, Mallioppiminen ja muilta saatu tuki, Ympäristöltä saatu palaute sekä Tunteet ja tuntemukset. Jaottelu pohjautui Banduran (1977) minäpystyvyyden lähteiden osa-alueisiin. Boxplot-kuvan avulla kuvattiin vastausten jakautumista koko aineistossa neljässä faktorianalyysin avulla muodostetussa summamuuttujassa. Tämän jälkeen ryhmittelyanalyysi jakoi erityislasten vanhemmat heidän vastaustensa perusteella kolmeen ryhmään: (1) ”Matala pystyvyys ja arki koetan ajoittain hallitsemattomaksi”(n=18), (2) ”Keskivahva pystyvyys ja arki koetaan melko hallittavaksi” (n=26) ja (3) ”Vahva arjen hallinta ja oma pystyvyys” (n=17). Tulosten yhteenvetona voitiin todeta, että erityislasten vanhempien käsitykset minäpystyvyydestään ovat hyvät. Arki onnistumisineen ja haasteineen vaikuttaa oleellisesti vanhempien minäpystyvyyteen. Laadullisen ja määrällisen analyysin yhteenvetona muodostui synteesi erityslasten vanhempien minäpystyvyyden kannalta keskeisimmistä osa-alueista: vanhempaan itseensä liittyvät tekijät, erityislapseen liittyvät tekijät sekä ympäristöön liittyvät tekijät. Tutkimus tuottaa uutta tietoa erityislasten vanhempien minäpystyvyydestä ja auttaa ymmärtämään siihen liittyvien tekijöiden vaikutuksia. Monipuolinen tarkastelu tuo eväitä vanhemmuuden tukemiseen ja erityislapsiperheen arjen ymmärtämiseen uusista näkökulmista

SELF-EFFICACY IN PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW OF RESEARCH AND IMPLICATIONS

Research on self-efficacy in parents who have children with special needs appears fragmented and relatively scarce. The purpose of the research was to analyze (1) how the self-efficacy of parents who have children with special needs has been researched in 2000-2020 and (2) what implications the research provides to support parents’ self-efficacy. This was a state-of-the-art review in which a total of 23 articles were selected (n=10 from EBSCO and n=13 from ScienceDirect). The data were analyzed with the method of qualitative content analysis. For the research question 1, three upper categories were formed: Self-efficacy from the perspective of the parent’s well-being; Self-efficacy in relation to the child; and Self-efficacy in relation to the support offered to parents. For the research question 2, all articles (n=21) that included any implications were used for answering this question. Implications were categorized into Social support and services; Support for parents’ well-being; and Knowledge and skills offered to parents. Based on the analysis more research is needed about the connection between perceived well-being and self-efficacy from the parents’ own perspective. Cognitive-behavioral therapeutic interventions would be beneficial for parents who find their child’s behavior challenging. They also need continuous access to behavioral therapeutic methods.  Article visualizations

Negotiating a transnational career around borders: Women's stories in boundaryless academia

The study aimed to give voice to two women sport scientists’ life stories to centralize the challenges and ways of coping their career journeys entailed, and enlighten our understanding of the lived experience and meaning of academic migrating. They shared transnational career stories through interviews and ongoing conversations which we re-story in a creative non-fiction story where we blended the two. Our data collection, analysis and representation were informed by theoretical, methodological and interpretive bricolage. As the creative nonfiction story shows, the academic entrepreneur ideal was somewhat disrupted in the women’s lives, as migration experiences, aside from thrills, also involved rough and complex negotiations and challenges. However, the experiences and lessons learned from migration experiences informed subsequent decisions and relocations while work and home became a state of mind and a sense of comfort for the two women who relentlessly swapped priorities between home and work. We identified three strategies – negotiating, redirecting, and accepting – that the women applied to their home and work life while trying to stay true to themselves and their values. The literature on transnationalism and academics as mobilised professionals helped us bring to light ‘silenced’ elements of the academic narrative as forms of women’s professional development in sport sciences that are not part of ‘official’ narratives of career-building were uncovered.publishedVersio

ПОДРОСТКИ-СПОРТСМЕНЫ СТРОЯТ ДВОЙНУЮ КАРЬЕРУ И БЛАГОПОЛУЧИЕ В УСЛОВИЯХ ДВОЙНОГО КАРЬЕРНОГО РОСТА: РОЛЬ ФАКТОРОВ ОКРУЖАЮЩЕЙ СРЕДЫ

The purpose of the scientific research was to study the career growth and well-being of adolescent athletes in conditions of dual career growth. The study revealed the features of adaptability to a career in high school of sports school. The article presents data on the extent to which self-esteem and gender are associated with adaptability to a dual career, the profiles of adaptation to the career of adolescent athletes have been defined, it is also revealed how the expectations of student-athletes depending on their success in sports and studies and the corresponding expectations of their parents are associated with their profiles of adaptation to a career. The new data on how the organizational culture of a sports school affects the career development of teenage athletes have been obtained. Цель исследования заключалась в изучении карьерного роста и благополучия спортсменов-подростков в условиях двойного карьерного роста. В исследовании выявлены особенности  адаптивности к карьере в старших классах спортивной школы. В статье представлены данные относительно того, в какой степени самооценка и пол связаны с адаптивностью к двойной карьере, определены профили адаптации к карьере спортсменов-подростков,  выявлены как ожидания студентов-спортсменов в зависимости от их успехов в спорте и учебе и соответствующие ожидания их родителей связаны с их профилями адаптации к карьере.  Получены новые данные относительно того,  как организационная культура спортивной  школы влияет на построение карьеры спортсменов-подростков.

Restoring harmony in the life-world? Identity, learning, and leaving pre-elite sport

Sport provides many youth participants with a central life project, and yet very few eventually fulfil their athletic dreams, which may lead them to disengage from sport entirely. Many studies have explored the processes of athletic retirement, but little is known about how youth athletes actually reconstruct their relationship with sport and embodiment post-retirement. We explored these issues in the story of ‘Pilvi’, a Finnish alpine skier who disengaged from sport in her late adolescence. Employing an existential-phenomenological approach, we conducted six low-structured interviews with Pilvi, combined with visual methods, and identified key themes relating to the body, space, culture and time. Our findings highlight the difficulty of building a new relationship with sport and the often restrictive cultural horizons of sport and exercise culture that limit the ‘possible selves’. We discuss the significant implications for applied practitioners helping youth athletes and effectively supporting them in leaving their sport

Existential learning and adolescent identity: Finding meaning through boundary situations

Existential psychology places emphasis on boundary situations as a potential source of learning and development. These experiences are situations when one’s identity does not fit the new demands and experiences, bringing forth existential insecurity and often leading to a more profound change in one’s mode of being. Our study aimed to understand identity learning through boundary experiences in adolescence through the story of “Pilvi”, a pre-elite Finnish alpine skier who terminated her promising athletic career at the age of 18. She was interviewed using a low-structured approach, twice before and twice after her athletic retirement. We analysed her story using existential-narrative approach (Richert, 2010) with a focus on boundary situations and loss of athletic identity. A pivotal moment for Pilvi was the introduction of new skis that she could not adjust to, shattering her athletic identity that gained meaning from athletic success. The disruption also revealed the loneliness of her sport life-project underpinned by a lack of shared meaning with her father, teammates and coach. After abandoning her sport life-project and experiencing a personal crisis, she reflected on learning about her emotions, accepting her limitations and “wasting time” in sport; however, she also sought to transfer her sport life themes of success and winning to education to bring continuity to her identity. The tension with her father shaped her storytelling throughout the interviews. We discuss the implications of our findings for psychological and career counselling services for talented adolescents

Closing a chapter? A protocol for a longitudinal mixed methods study on retirement from elite sport.

Retirement from elite sport represents a major life transition for athletes and requires them to redefine their central life projects, identities, and perhaps even sources of meaning in life. Although an extensive body of literature has identified risk and protective factors in career termination, little is known about the more subjective processes and individual pathways of athletes as they establish their new relationship with work-life and sport. The planned longitudinal mixed methods study follows Swiss elite athletes' transition with a focus on understanding (1) the relationship between psychological resources, life situations at the end of the sports career, and the retirement process; (2) how athletes' post-retirement vocational careers interact with their subjective careers and sense of meaningful work; (3) how athletes reconstruct their identities and relationship with sport over time; and (4) how gender shapes athletes' pathways and reorientation of their life design.Using a person-oriented approach combined with narrative inquiry, we expect to identify specific types and stories which demonstrate individual differences in career and personal development throughout the transitional period, an understanding of which can be targeted towards support programmes for retiring elite athletes. As the study centralises dimensions of positive psychological functioning (meaning and purpose in life/sport/work, resilience, life satisfaction), it complements previous studies focused on psychological distress and provides much needed knowledge that can be used to foster well-being in athletic retirement. Collaborating with the Swiss Olympic Association helps to ensure that the research findings will be disseminated to relevant end-users and used towards developing socially sustainable elite sport for the future generations