Qualitative Analysis of Sports Corruption

Research Methodology

This dissertation will be conducted with qualitative research methods. Qualitative research method is appropriate for research topics that involve multiple layers and are complex in nature. This section discusses the research questions that this dissertation seeks to answer as well as the research methodology that will guide the research for this dissertation.

Research Questions:

The principal research question that is involved in this research is related to exploration of link between corruption and gambling in European football. The overarching research question is as follows:

What is the link between corruption and gambling in European football? Does gambling increase the incidence of corruption in European football? What is the evidence of the same?

The related research questions are:

How is corruption defined in context of sports?

How are gambling and corruption in European football linked? Does increase in gambling also lead to increase in corruption in European football?

What are the legal and policy responses to corruption in European football?

Research Method:

The principal research method that is used in this dissertation is the qualitative method. The specific advantages of using qualitative research, which are also beneficial for this current research project. Qualitative research is that research which involves data collection of non-numerical data (Creswell, 2013, p. 44). Unlike quantitative analysis, which is rigid, qualitative research methods are flexible in the formulation of research design. Complex studies, that have multiple perspectives and multi-layered information, benefit from the flexibility of design of qualitative research (Willis & Jost, 2007). Moreover, there is no need to create hypotheses in qualitative research designs (Willis & Jost, 2007); in qualitative research, research questions can be formulated, which suits this study.

The research questions being probing in the nature that they are probing into the existence of the link between gambling and corruption in European football, the method of inquiring into the link is informed by descriptive research. Descriptive research allows the researcher to obtain and report on information but not testing the information (Monsen & Horn, 2008). In the present research, the researcher is posing descriptive questions, for which descriptive method of analysis and reporting of findings is appropriate.

The data collected for this research comes from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources of research include relevant legislation or government policy statements. Primary sources also include primary studies reported in peer reviewed journals. Secondary sources include books, peer reviewed journals and reports. Library or desk based research is conducted to collect both primary and secondary sources. As this study involves use of descriptive method, the focus is to gather data and analysing the data without testing the data (Sevilla, et al., 2007).

A systematic literature review will be used to collect data; this can be defined as the summary of available and accessible literature collated by the researcher (Bettany-Saltikov, 2012). As literature review may involve researcher bias, a systematic literature review is useful because it is done by collating all empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria (Green, et al., 2011, p. 6). This allows avoidance of researcher bias (Green, et al., 2011).

The dissertation is presented as a literature review wherein the review of the current and scientific data is conducted to present the findings of the literature on the research questions. Based on this review and analysis of the literature, the findings of the dissertation are presented in the dissertation. The literature is collated to provide data that responds to the research questions posed at the beginning of the research. In order to collate the data, thematic analysis of the data is conducted. This allows the researcher to focus on the recurrent themes within the qualitative data, which may involve many themes, not all of which would be relevant to the research. Therefore, by using thematic analysis method, the researcher can narrow down the focus of analysis to selected themes, which are those that are related to the research questions and provide data or evidence for responding to research question (Bearman & Dawson, 2013). A repetitive process of reading and re-reading the data can be useful for organising the key themes in the data and organising the findings based on these key themes (Bearman & Dawson, 2013).

Bibliography

Bearman, M. & Dawson, P., 2013. Qualitative synthesis and systematic review in health professions education. Medical Education, Volume 47, p. 252–260.

Bettany-Saltikov, J., 2012. How To Do A Systematic Literature Review In Nursing: A Step-By-Step Guide: A Step by Step Guide. London : Mc Graw and Hill.

Creswell, J. W., 2013. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Los Angeles: Sage.

Green, S. et al., 2011. Introduction. In: J. P. T. Higgins & S. Green, eds. Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions . London: John Wiley and Sons.

Monsen, E. & Horn, L., 2008. Research: Successful Approaches. s.l.:American Dietic Association.

Sevilla, C. et al., 2007. Reseach Methods. Florentino: Rex Printing Company.

Willis, J. W. & Jost, M., 2007. Foundations of Qualitative Research: Interpretive and Critical Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage .