Journeying into postqualitative inquiry: an exploration of the opportunities and tensions for graduate students in sport and exercise psychology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Postqualitative inquiry (PQI) has emerged in recent years as a potential-filled approach to inquiry for researchers seeking to move beyond humanist paradigms such as postpositivism and interpretivism. PQI offers researchers exciting opportunities to shift from method-focused scholarship to theory-focused scholarship, amongst other moves. As a graduate student conducting research in sport and exercise psychology (SEP), PQI caught my (i.e., first author) attention and drew me into the dynamic whirlwind of immanence, materiality, and relationality. In the present commentary paper, the purpose is to explore the opportunities and tensions of PQI for SEP graduate students. Specifically, I do so by sharing my experiences engaging with PQI in attempts to help other SEP graduate students navigate their PQI journeys. The paper first situates what PQI is/is not and what it does, followed by some of the opportunities related to engaging in PQI, which include stimulating intellectual openness, working towards social justice, and addressing methodological critiques. Despite these opportunities, some tensions do exist, such as the labours of reading hard, onto-epistemological juggling, and the rush to application. In grappling with these opportunities and tensions, recommendations are offered to SEP graduate students who do decide to journey into PQI. These recommendations consist of reframing the return on investment as rhizomatic, remaining aware of the exclusionary effects of labelling PQI, and understanding the ramifications of a decentred human in SEP research. Concluding thoughts are offered in the form of reflections from both the first and second authors.