Analysing sport policy and politics: the promises and challenges of synthesising methodological approaches

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article reflects upon the potential analytical utility of synthesising contrasting methodological frameworks when conducting research on sport policy and politics, with specific reference to methods derived from the fields of critical discourse analysis, political discourse analysis and narrative analysis. With its central emphasis on the content and production of political discourse relating to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Game sand the Scottish independence referendum, the methodological processes used in this thesis focused upon the identification of recurrent discursive forms from primary and secondary data sources including interviews with political actors, speech transcripts, manifestos, policy documents and press releases. Given the methodological synthesis evident in this approach, this article firstly provides a discussion of the paradigmatic assumptions of this analytical synthesis. Discussion then focuses on the provision of a more detailed outline of the frameworks of 1) Fairclough and Fairclough and 2) Somers, providing an explanation of the synthesis of these specific analytical frameworks within this research. Finally, this article provides a reflexive critique of the relative merits of the chosen methodology, with specific consideration given to the promises and challenges of synthesising analytical frameworks in a similar fashion in future research within the field of sport policy and politics.