The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Culture

Michael D. Giardina is Professor of Qualitative Inquiry and Physical Culture in the Department of Sport Management at Florida State University. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology (#649) and a Research Fellow of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. He is the author of editor of more than 30 books including The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (6th edition; with Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln, and Gaile S. Cannella; Sage, 2023), Qualitative Inquiry in Transition—Pasts, Presents, and Futures: A Critical Reader (with Norman K. Denzin; Routledge, 2024), and the award-winning Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation: Consumption and the Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism (with Joshua I. Newman; PalgraveMacmillan, 2011). He is the editor of three qualitative research journals published by SAGE (Qualitative Inquiry; Cultural Studies?Critical Methodologies; International Review of Qualitative Research), and three book series with Routledge on qualitative methods, including the series Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Activity (with Brett Smith). From 2015-2020 he was Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal, and from 2020-2025 he was Director of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI). He can be followed on Twitter/X @mdgiardinaFSU, or found on the soccer field watching his son star as a playmaking forward on his club team.  Michele K. Donnelly is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock University, Canada. She is the author of Gender Equality and the Olympic Programme (Routledge, 2023) and co-editor of Physical Culture, Ethnography, and the Body: Theory, Method, and Praxis (Routledge, 2017) and Youth Culture and Sport; Identity, Power, and Politics (with Routledge, 2007). Her work has also appeared in books such as the SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (6th edition) and SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design. Devra J. Waldman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Florida State University. Her research has been published in such leading journals as Progress in Human Geography, Geoforum, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and Cultural Studies?Critical Methodologies.

For those doing and teaching qualitative research in relation to sport and physical culture, The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Culture is a ‘must read’ collection. The handbook is notable not only for the range of topics covered by outstanding researchers and thinkers, but also for the astute ways that the fundamentals of qualitative research – and tensions around what these are and how they have been, and might be, engaged with – are mixed with cutting edge reflections on pressing social and environmental issues in the realm of sport and physical culture. My thanks to the editors and authors for producing such an important and useful resource.

• Chapter 1 Locating the Field: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture - Michael D. Giardina, Michele K. Donnelly, Devra J. WaldmanPart I Politics of InquiryChapter 2 Reflexivity in Sport & Physical Culture: An Ethics of Care - Rebecca Olive, Belinda WheatonChapter 3 Positionality in Sport & Physical Culture: Methodological Silences - Devra WaldmanChapter 4 Qualitative Research, Scholarly “Performance”, and the Rationalization of Inquiry in Sport & Physical Culture - Joshua I. Newman, Tarlan Chahardovali, Roc Rochon, Shushan DaiChapter 5 Funded Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture: A Conversation between a Practitioner and an Academician - Austin Thompson-Spain, Kyle S. BundsChapter 6 Research Co-Production in Sport & Physical Culture: What is co-production, why do it, and how might it be practiced, evaluated, and moved forward? - Brett Smith, Toni L. WilliamsChapter 7 Qualitative Evidence, ‘Science’, and the Development of Sport Policy - Sheree BekkerChapter 8 Time, Temporality, and “Slow” Research in Sport & Physical Culture - Ioannis Costas Batlle, Bryan C. CliftPart II Philosophies of InquiryChapter 9 Feminist Inquiry in Sport & Physical Culture: Tensions between Feminist - Stacey PopeChapter 10 Black Feminism and Intersectionality in Sport & Physical Culture - Letisha Engracia Cardoso BrownChapter 11 Critical Race Theory in Sport & Physical Culture - A. Lamont WilliamsChapter 12 Queer & Trans* Inquiry in Sport & Physical Culture - Anna Posbergh, Anna BaethChapter 13 Physical Cultural Studies: Toward a Meaningful and Generative Unity-in-Difference - David L. Andrews, Shannon Jette, Julie Brice, Katelyn Esmonde, Michael T. Friedman, Ron Mower, Jennifer D. Roberts, Tori A. Justin, Michael L. Silk, Holly Thorpe, Brandon T. Wallace,Chapter 14 Critical Disability Studies in Sport & Physical Culture - Javier MonforteChapter 15 Indigenous Methodologies in Sport & Physical Culture - Tricia McGuire-AdamsChapter 16 New Materialism in Sport & Physical Culture - Pirkko MarkulaChapter 17 Political Ecologies of Sport & Physical Culture - Gavin WeedonChapter 18 International Development and Global Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture: Biopolitics, Postcolonialism, and Field Methods. - Simon C. Darnell, Mat BlundellPart III Practices of InquiryChapter 19 Interviewing in Sport & Physical Culture - Elizabeth B. DeliaChapter 20 Critical Ethnography in Sport & Physical Culture - Daniel BurdseyChapter 21 Autoethnography in Sport & Physical Culture - Jacquelyn Allen-CollinsonChapter 22 Arts-based Methods in Sport & Physical Culture: Comics, Zines, Poetry, and Sculpture - Shawn Forde, Jess NachmanChapter 23 Audio-Visual Inquiry in Sport & Physical Culture - Yosuke WashiyaChapter 24 Creative Nonfiction in Sport & Physical Culture: Telling Stories and Connecting with Audiences - Francesca CavallerioChapter 25 Feminist Media Studies in Sport & Physical Culture - Cheryl Cooky, Dunja AntunovicChapter 26 Participatory Research in Sport & Physical Culture: An Orientation to Inquiry - Kyle Rich, Robyn Smith, Audrey GilesPart IV Sites of InquiryChapter 27 Community-based Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture: Relationships and Resistance in the Neoliberal City - Rylan Kafara, Jay Scherer, Jordan KochChapter 28 Conducting Qualitative Research with Olympic and Paralympic Athletes and Staff - Hélène Joncheray, Rémi RichardChapter 29 Researching Gender Inclusion in Sport Organizations - Lucy Piggott, Annelies KnoppersChapter 30 Digital Ethnography in Sport & Physical Culture - Gaston Julian Gil, María Nemesia HijósChapter 31 Qualitative Research for Climate Justice in Sport & Physical Culture - Liv YoonChapter 32 Qualitative Research on Sport & Physical Culture in China - Huan XiongChapter 33 Qualitative Research on Sport and Physical Culture within Muslim contexts and Communities - Mahfoud AmaraChapter 34 Qualitative Research with Sport Fan Communities - Radoslaw KossakowskiChapter 35 Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture with Criminalized Populations: Access, Ethics, and the Use of Knowledge for Social Change - Mark NormanPart V ConclusionsChapter 36 Critically Proactive Research through Space and Time: A Conversation Between Father and Son - Jack Sugden, John SugdenChapter 37 The Future is Unwritten: Challenges and Opportunities in Qualitative Research in Sport & Physical Culture - Devra J. Waldman, Michele K. Donnelly, Michael D. Giardina