Methods For Researching Volunteers
Authors: Shipway, R. and Lockstone-Binney, L.
Pages: 485-499
DOI: 10.4324/9780367815875-45
Abstract:As demonstrated by the contributions to this Handbook, there is a burgeoning interest in understanding event, sport and tourism (EST) volunteering. Although referenced specifically in relation to sports volunteering research, we echo and extend to tourism and events, Hoye et al.’s (2019) call for researchers to adopt a broader range of methodologies to examine volunteering in these fields. Bringing together these contrasting perspectives, this chapter first discusses the dominance of quantitative investigations and their application to date. This discussion lays the groundwork for appeals for increased qualitative and mixedmethods studies to demonstrate the breadth of methods that can be applied to the study of EST volunteering. Following, a more instructional approach is taken to outline how quantitative and qualitative methods can be utilised to support volunteering research in our fields. Issues of questionnaire design, administration and sampling are quantitative considerations that are discussed. Further discussed are contextualised examples of guidelines and tools for conducting qualitative approaches including participant observation and interviews. The chapter briefly concludes with a discussion of opportunities for methodological expansion in respect of EST volunteering.
Source: Scopus