Centralizing culture in cultural sport psychology research: The potential of narrative inquiry and discursive psychology

By Kerry R. McGannon, Brett W. Smith. 2015

184 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Objectives To understand cultural issues within cultural sport psychology (CSP) research, methodological variation has been advocated. Those interested in carrying out CSP research with a ‘critical sensibility’ are presented with the challenge of deciding what methodology may capture a socially constructed and nuanced analysis of culture, self-identity and experience. In this paper we focus on two qualitative methodologies grounded in social constructionism and their potential for advancing understandings of culture within CSP research: narrative inquiry and discursive psychology. Results Focusing on what is at the “core” of critical CSP research – cultural praxis – we briefly outline narrative inquiry and discursive psychology, articulate three key convergences between them and discuss how these link with, and build upon, cultural praxis tenets. To further demonstrate the potential of these methodologies for centralizing and expanding understandings of culture in CSP, we next offer distinct methodological contributions of each: autoethnography, conversation analysis, and critical discourse analysis. Conclusion We close by suggesting that to move beyond theoretical discussions of cultural praxis in CSP, sport psychology researchers might use narrative inquiry and discursive psychology. Doing so allows for more informed and principled methodological choices in CSP research that align with social constructionism, and provides a critical and nuanced analysis of culture, moving forward.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Music, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/425ebe29117777845a91fe3101d92bfaf419e4bb

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

In Music

In Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

Citations in the corpus

Developing rigor in qualitative research: problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology (2017, background): “The researcher and participant, no matter how hard they try, will always influence the method and any knowledge claim that follows from using it will be infused with their subjectivities (McGannon & Smith, 2015; Smith & Deemer, 2000).”
Qualitative research in six sport and exercise psychology journals between 2010 and 2017: An updated and expanded review of trends and interpretations (2019, background): “Since Culver et al.’s (2012) study, the importance of epistemological coherence, expansion of qualitative research methods and rigour/ trustworthiness has been highlighted in sport psychology (see Burke, 2016; McGannon & Smith, 2015; Smith & McGannon, 2018).”
A meta-study of athletic identity research in sport psychology: Current status and future directions (2016, background): “These ideas have been further developed in cultural sport psychology (CSP) which emerged as an umbrella term for approaches that come after positivism (McGannon & Smith, 2015; Ryba & Schinke, 2009).”
Generalizability in qualitative research: misunderstandings, opportunities and recommendations for the sport and exercise sciences (2018, background): “…a conversational, discursive and narrative analyst would remind us that conversations are embedded in every day forms of talk and interaction (with oneself and others), as well as situated in certain institutional settings and practices (McGannon and Smith 2015, LeCouteur and Cosh 2016).”
Routledge Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise (2018, background): “More recently, and taking a conceptual 180-degree turn from realist and institutional ethnographies, autoethnographic methods have grown in popularity within the study of sport and exercise (Sparkes & Smith, 2014; McGannon & Smith, 2015).”