The current study utilises both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to gather empirical data about the working practices of doctors and physiotherapists involved in the treatment of Olympic athletes. Contact was initially made with a chief medical practitioner for Olympic sport in June 2007 and the research objectives, proposed methodologies and potential research participants were discussed in detail. Those doctors and physiotherapists who were currently members of the BOA’s (British Olympic Association) medical and physiotherapy committees (each Olympic sport National Governing Body nominates one doctor and one physiotherapist to each committee) were considered the most appropriate sports medicine professionals to target as they were likely to be pivotal in the delivery of health- care to Olympic athletes and thus, more likely to provide appropriate reflections on their involvement in sports medicine. Targeting the committees was also the easiest way of identifying contacts and guaranteed a breadth of coverage across all Olympic sports. This sample population was agreed by this person of contact, the "gatekeeper" and s/he advised me to contact the chair of the physiotherapy committee and his/her personal secretary to discuss the appropriate method for distributing the questionnaires.
As a means of testing the suitability of the questionnaire design, a small pilot study was undertaken prior to the distribution of questionnaires to doctors and physiotherapists. These pilot questionnaires were distributed by the "gatekeeper" to his/her work colleagues (all sports medicine doctors employed at the Olympic
feedback (see AppendixTwo). Whilst the pilot study was by no means exhaustive, it benefited the researcher by clarifying issues relating to specific questions, areas that needed further examination in the interviews and gave the researcher greater confidence that medical staff would both be at ease with the questions being posed and be able to provide meaningful data. Several changes to the design of the questionnaire were made after feedback from the gatekeeper and after discussions with the research supervisor. The final questionnaire had 26 questions, the majority of which were closed. Four open ended questions were used to provide more qualitative data and to identify potential areas of discussion for the following interviews. Questionnaire respondents were able to provide their contact details at the end of the questionnaire. A copy of the questionnaire is provided in Appendix One.
After completion of the final questionnaire, contact was made with the chairs of the physiotherapy and medical committees and potential methods for the distribution of questionnaires were discussed. The chair of the medical committee felt it was more appropriate if questionnaires were sent from the British Olympic Association so as to maintain anonymity. A batch of thirty-five questionnaires was sent to the British Olympic Association’s headquarters in October 2007. The researcher included pre- paid return envelopes so that completed questionnaires could be returned to the researcher directly. The chair of the physiotherapy committee provided me with a list of email contacts for the physiotherapists. A brief, personal email outlining the research aims and relevant information about becoming involved was sent to each physiotherapist in November 2007. It was important that this email was sent to physiotherapists individually as opposed to a group email so that physiotherapists were not influenced or "put off" by knowing who else had been contacted. The email was designed so that physiotherapists could respond directly to the researcher, ask any
further questions and volunteer to be included by requesting a questionnaire to be sent to them personally. Questionnaires were distributed via post and a pre-paid return envelope was provided to encourage return. Response rates of 58.8% for physiotherapists and 60% for doctors were achieved and questionnaires were analysed using SPSS (a discussion of these findings is undertaken in Chapter 6).
Sixteen physiotherapists and eighteen doctors provided contact details and interviews were subsequently conducted with fourteen doctors and fourteen physiotherapists between January and May 2008. Each interview was transcribed as soon as possible after the completion of the interview to allow the researcher to reflect upon the interview and to have the best opportunity for recalling and documenting any issues and potential themes for inclusion in future interviews. Whilst there are particular methods to make analytic sense of interview data, the use of thematic coding according to emergent themes and sub-themes was most useful. Extracts from the interview transcripts were placed in separate word documents for reference during the course of data-collection and after completion. Further analytical notes were made after each interview in order to connect the emerging themes to the existing literature and theoretical concepts which helped to further regulate and develop the interview questions and enabled the researcher to ask additional questions in relation to these central themes.
The following discussion outlines the general benefits and limitations of using these data collection methods in conjunction with one another. For example, used alone, questionnaires will only emphasise basic, largely quantitative, knowledge and thus, interviews enable the researcher to achieve a deeper understanding and an opportunity to build upon the issues raised in the questionnaire. The following discussion also
provides some commentary on the use of these methods when conducting sociological research from a figurational perspective.