Ethics, Knowledge and Truth in Sports Research An Epistemology of Sport [Hardcover]

The study of sport is characterised by its inter-disciplinarity, with researchers drawing on apparently incompatible research traditions and ethical benchmarks in the natural sciences and the social sciences, depending on their area of specialisation. In this groundbreaking study, Graham McFee argues that sound high-level research into sport requires a sound rationale for ones methodological choices, and that such a rationale requires an understanding of the connection between the practicalities of researching sport and the philosophical assumptions which underpin them.

By examining touchstone principles in research methodology, such as the contested gold standard of voluntary informed consent in the natural sciences and the postmodern denial of truth in the social sciences, McFee demonstrates that epistemology and ethics are inextricably linked. Drawing on a wide range of examples, from the laboratory to the sports field, McFee explores the concepts of knowledge and truth in sports research and makes a powerful case for a philosophical deepening of our approach to method and methodology in sport. This book is important reading for all advanced students and researchers working in sport, exercise and related disciplines.

Preface  Part 1: Overview  Chapter 1. A Vision of the Epistemology and Ethics of Qualitative Research Into Sport Part 2: The Nature of Qualitative Research  Chapter 2. Research Must Answer its Question: Research as Erotetic  Chapter 3. The Idea of the Qualitative is not so Helpful  Part 3: The Place of Truth  Chapter 4. Research Must Aim at Truth  Chapter 5. Scientism is a Bad Model of Truth (and Natural Science)  Chapter 6. Postmodernism and Truth-Denial as a Kind of Scientism  Chapter 7. Truth-Denial is Not Just a Style of Writing&nbslƒ#