Dissecting a Qualitative Article

Dissecting a Qualitative Article, Read Sample Article 2 for your program: For Education, read Wiersma and Sherman’s 2005 article, “Volunteer Youth Sports Coaches’ Perspectives of Coaching Education/Certification and Parental Codes of Conduct,” from Exercise and Sport, volume 76, issue 3, pages 324–338. After you have completed your reading of Sample Article 2, open the document associated with your program and follow the instructions. This is also a good time to review the Dissecting Research Articles handout if you wish. This activity will help you develop skills for evaluating the article carefully and fully, taking into account each element of a research article. For Education, use Dissecting Research Articles – Qualitative – Education. The vast majority of youth sports programs in the United States relies primarily on parent volunteers to serve as coaches. Unfortunately, most of these volunteer coaches have not received formal training to prepare them adequately for the role of a youth sports coach. To exacerbate the issue, according to the popular media, parents and other adults can commit belligerent and even violent acts around and often result from, poorly managed youth sports events. Although some efforts have been made to standardize curricula, provide training for coaches, and contain or prevent inappropriate parent behaviors, few efforts have been directed at investigating self-described needs and concerns of the coaches from their perspectives. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the concerns and issues of youth sport coaches related to coaching and parental education. Five focus group interviews with 25 volunteer youth sport coaches were conducted to investigate these issues. Results were organized around four higher order themes that emerged from inductive content analyses: (a) coaching education content areas of need, (b) barriers and problems of offering coaching education, (c) coaching education format recommendations, and (d) efficacy of parental codes of conduct. Results were discussed in terms of the potential impact administrators, coaches, and parents could have in implementing formal coaching education programs and developing their coaching education practices. Keywords: children’s sports focus groups, qualitative research Adults, such as parents and coaches, provide the instrumental support crucial for the existence of children’s sports programs. These individuals provide the money, time, transportation, and organization without which few programs would exist for millions of children and adolescents. Additionally, the behaviors and attitudes of parents and coaches have a significant impact on children’s enjoyment (Babkes & Weiss, 1999; Wiersma, 2001), motivation (Duda & Hom, 1993), enthusiasm (Power & Woolger, 1994), emotional responses (Brustad, 1992; Ommundsen & Vaglum, 1991), self-concept (Brustad, 1996), and socialization (Harter, 1978; Weiss & Hayashi, 1995), all of which are important predictors of continued sport involvement.