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Developing rigor in qualitative research: problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology
Open accessAbstract
Qualitative research has grown within sport and exercise psychology and is now widely conducted. The purpose of this review is to discuss three commonly used ways to demonstrate rigor when conducting or judging qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology. These are the method of member checking, the method of inter-rater reliability, and the notion of universal criteria. Problems with each method are first highlighted. Member checking and inter-rater reliability are shown to be ineffective for verification, trustworthiness, or reliability purposes. Next, universal criteria within the context of Tracy’s, heavily drawn on paper within sport and exercise psychology is problematized. Throughout the discussion of each method and universal criteria more suitable possibilities for conducting rigorous qualitative research are offered. The paper concludes that to support high-quality qualitative research, scholars – including journal editors and reviewers – need to change how rigor is developed and judged, rather than perpetuate the problems with how it has been commonly evaluated in the past. Recommendations for developing rigor when conducting and/or judging qualitative research within sport and exercise psychology are also offered.
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“This practice in theory controls for or corrects any subjective bias-misinterpretation, misemphasis-of the researcher (Smith & McGannon, 2018).”
From Toward good practice in thematic analysis: Avoiding common problems and be(com)ing a knowing researcher (2023) · cites this paper as Smith & McGannon, 2018
In the citing paper
“However, the use of member checking is infused with assumptions about reality and knowledge production that sit (conceptually) uncomfortably with reflexive TA-including that there is a truth of participants' experiences that we can access if we can keep the potentially distorting effects of researcher influence in check (see Smith & McGannon, 2018).”
From Toward good practice in thematic analysis: Avoiding common problems and be(com)ing a knowing researcher (2023) · cites this paper as Smith & McGannon, 2018
In the citing paper
“Luckily, qualitative methodologists have already done a lot of the heavy lifting here (e.g., Braun & Clarke, 2021b;Smith & McGannon, 2018;Varpio et al., 2017Varpio et al., , 2021)), presenting thoughtful considerations of what's assumed and at stake in various supposedly universal criteria.”
From Toward good practice in thematic analysis: Avoiding common problems and be(com)ing a knowing researcher (2023) · cites this paper as Smith & McGannon, 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Smith, B., & McGannon, K. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Laurentian University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Brett
- Venue
- International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-14
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 101-121
- ISSN
- 1750-984X (ISSN-L)
- 1750-9858
- OpenAlex
- W2615715350
- Cited by
- 3,074
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 358 · 2025: 418 · 2024: 394 · 2023: 395 · 2022: 365 · 2021: 396 · 2020: 299 · 2019: 227 · 2018: 161 · 2017: 61
- FWCI
- 728.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Keywords
- qualitative research rigor, member checking, inter-rater reliability, trustworthiness, research evaluation, peer review, editorial practice, sport and exercise psychology
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