Engaging athletes as research participants. A document analysis of published sport science literature.
athlete engagement
collaboration
embedded researcher
gatekeeper
research co‐design
Journal
European journal of sport science
ISSN: 1536-7290
Titre abrégé: Eur J Sport Sci
Pays: Germany
ID NLM: 101146739
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
17 Sep 2024
17 Sep 2024
Historique:
received:
01
02
2024
accepted:
08
09
2024
medline:
17
9
2024
pubmed:
17
9
2024
entrez:
17
9
2024
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Sport science practitioners utilise findings from peer reviewed research to inform practice. Fewer studies are conducted with high performance athletes, however, than those involving recreationally active participants. Noting that research findings from recreational athletes may not be generalisable to the elite, there is a need to engage the latter cohort in research with better potential to influence health and performance. This study identified methods used to engage and recruit highly trained, elite and world class athletes as research participants. A document analysis was conducted using a purposive sample of peer-reviewed sport science literature. All articles published in 2022 from 18 highly ranked sport science journals were screened for inclusion. Studies investigating athletes ranked as highly trained/national level or above were included. All details related to participant recruitment were extracted from included articles, with the content being coded and thematically analysed using an interpretivist approach. A total of 439 studies from the 2356 screened were included in the analysis. Five primary themes of recruitment strategies were identified, beneath an overarching strategy of purposeful, convenience sampling. Recruitment themes related to the use of a gatekeeper, the research environment providing convenient access to athletes, promoting the study electronically, utilising professional networks and recruiting at training or competition. Engaging athletes through a gatekeeper is a prominent strategy to involve elite athletes in research. It is suggested that researchers work collaboratively with team or organisation personnel to promote recruitment, creating co-designed approaches that address issues most relevant to athletes and staff.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.
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