Abstract

ANGUERA, M. Teresa  and  HERNANDEZ-MENDO, Antonio. Advances in mixed methods observational studies in sports sciences. CPD [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.1, pp.17-30. ISSN 1989-5879.

From its position as an emerging movement at the end of the 20th century, mixed methods research has steadily gained recognition as a robust, sustainable research approach. There is a systematic information about the development of mixed methods studies in sport during last fifteen years; however, it does implies a few sport modalities. Mixed methods research is used in many fields, although its uptake in the field of Sports Sciences has been slower, particularly in certain sports. In this paper, we analyze the possible reasons why mixed methods have had less impact in the field of sports and argue that all the barriers identified can be overcome and there are no objective factors that limit their use in studies of sport. Most observational studies in sport, according their structure, there are mixed methods studies. Finally, we argue that observational methodology should itself be considered a mixed methods approach, as in practically all cases, it involves the merging of qualitative and quantitative data. Although observational methodology has rapidly gained recognition over the past two decades and is widely used in everyday research settings, our proposal that it should be considered alongside other mixed methods designs is a novel one.

Keywords : Mixed methods; qualitative method; quantitative method; complementarity; integration.

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