IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v8y2020i3p152-161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Realist Interviews to Improve Theory on the Mechanisms and Outcomes of Sport for Development Programmes

Author

Listed:
  • Kirsten Thecla Verkooijen

    (Chair Group Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)

  • Sabina Super

    (Chair Group Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)

  • Lisanne Sofie Mulderij

    (Chair Group Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)

  • Dico de Jager

    (Chair Group Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)

  • Annemarie Wagemakers

    (Chair Group Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The complex nature of Sport for Development (SfD) programmes makes impact evaluation challenging. Realist evaluation has been proposed as a new, theory-driven approach to evaluate complex programmes. The present study aimed to explore the value of conducting realist interviews to gain improved insight into the mechanisms and outcomes of three SfD programmes in the Netherlands: a programme that promotes sports participation among socially vulnerable youth; a combined lifestyle intervention for adults of low social economic status; and a sports-based programme for marginalised adults. In addition, the study aimed to investigate the applicability of a conceptual model from the field of social enterprise (Roy, Baker, & Kerr, 2017) as the preliminary programme theory for those interviews. First, for each programme, a realist interview was conducted with one researcher as the key informant. Thereafter, the findings from and experiences with the individual realist interviews were discussed among the informants in a group meeting. The results revealed that the conceptual model functioned well as preliminary programme theory for the SfD programmes. The realist interviews contributed to theoretical awareness and trustworthiness. Importantly, the interviews highlighted knowledge gaps and generated ideas for programme improvement. Hence, the realist interview technique is recommended as a methodological tool to generate, validate, and improve programme theory in the field of SfD. This study had, however, an explorative character, and more research is needed to confirm and generalize the findings and to learn how a greater number of stakeholders might contribute to this type of realist evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsten Thecla Verkooijen & Sabina Super & Lisanne Sofie Mulderij & Dico de Jager & Annemarie Wagemakers, 2020. "Using Realist Interviews to Improve Theory on the Mechanisms and Outcomes of Sport for Development Programmes," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 152-161.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:152-161
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v8i3.2747
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2747
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v8i3.2747?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy, Michael J. & Baker, Rachel & Kerr, Susan, 2017. "Conceptualising the public health role of actors operating outside of formal health systems: The case of social enterprise," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 144-152.
    2. Lyras, Alexis & Welty Peachey, Jon, 2011. "Integrating sport-for-development theory and praxis," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 311-326.
    3. Alexis Lyras & Jon Welty Peachey, 2011. "Integrating sport-for-development theory and praxis," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 311-326, October.
    4. Caló, Francesca & Roy, Michael James & Donaldson, Cam & Teasdale, Simon & Baglioni, Simone, 2019. "Exploring the contribution of social enterprise to health and social care: A realist evaluation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 154-161.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Reinhard Haudenhuyse & John Hayton & Dan Parnell & Kirsten Verkooijen & Pascal Delheye, 2020. "Boundary Spanning in Sport for Development: Opening Transdisciplinary and Intersectoral Perspectives," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 123-128.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kirsten Thecla Verkooijen & Sabina Super & Lisanne Sofie Mulderij & Dico de Jager & Annemarie Wagemakers, 2020. "Using Realist Interviews to Improve Theory on the Mechanisms and Outcomes of Sport for Development Programmes," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 152-161.
    2. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini & Riccardo Rialti & Giacomo Marzi & Andrea Caputo, 2020. "Sport entrepreneurship: A synthesis of existing literature and future perspectives," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 795-826, September.
    3. Gadais, Tegwen & Varela, Natalia & Vinazco, Sandra & Soto, Victoria & Garzon, Mauricio, 2022. "How sport changed my life? Description of the perceived effects of the experiences of young Colombians throughout a sport for development and peace program," OSF Preprints gwk7h, Center for Open Science.
    4. Cohen, Adam & Peachey, Jon Welty, 2015. "The making of a social entrepreneur: From participant to cause champion within a sport-for-development context," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 111-125.
    5. Kang, Seungmin & Svensson, Per G., 2019. "Shared leadership in sport for development and peace: A conceptual framework of antecedents and outcomes," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 464-476.
    6. Felicity Clarke & Aled Jones & Lee Smith, 2021. "Building Peace through Sports Projects: A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Svensson, Per G. & Hambrick, Marion E., 2016. "“Pick and choose our battles” – Understanding organizational capacity in a sport for development and peace organization," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 120-132.
    8. Svensson, Per G., 2017. "Organizational hybridity: A conceptualization of how sport for development and peace organizations respond to divergent institutional demands," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 443-454.
    9. Schulenkorf, Nico, 2017. "Managing sport-for-development: Reflections and outlook," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 243-251.
    10. Chiara D’Angelo & Chiara Corvino & Caterina Gozzoli, 2021. "The Challenges of Promoting Social Inclusion through Sport: The Experience of a Sport-Based Initiative in Italy," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, May.
    11. Martino Corazza & Jen Dyer, 2017. "A New Model for Inclusive Sports? An Evaluation of Participants’ Experiences of Mixed Ability Rugby," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 130-140.
    12. Whitley, Meredith A. & Massey, William V. & Camiré, Martin & Blom, Lindsey C. & Chawansky, Megan & Forde, Shawn & Boutet, Mish & Borbee, Amanda & Darnell, Simon C., 2019. "A systematic review of sport for development interventions across six global cities," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 181-193.
    13. Pedro Danilo Ponciano Núñez & Iago Portela-Pino & María José Martínez-Patiño, 2023. "Understanding the Characteristics of Community Youth Sports Programs Interventions: A Systematic Review and Recommendations," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    14. Spaaij, Ramón & Schulenkorf, Nico & Jeanes, Ruth & Oxford, Sarah, 2018. "Participatory research in sport-for-development: Complexities, experiences and (missed) opportunities," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 25-37.
    15. Welty Peachey, Jon & Borland, John & Lobpries, Jami & Cohen, Adam, 2015. "Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 86-98.
    16. Rowe, Katie & Shilbury, David & Ferkins, Lesley & Hinckson, Erica, 2016. "Challenges for sport development: Women's entry level cycling participation," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 417-430.
    17. Harris, Kevin & Adams, Andrew, 2016. "Power and discourse in the politics of evidence in sport for development," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 97-106.
    18. Matthew Walker & Stephen Hills & Bob Heere, 2017. "Evaluating a Socially Responsible Employment Program: Beneficiary Impacts and Stakeholder Perceptions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 53-70, June.
    19. Bruening, Jennifer E. & Peachey, Jon Welty & Evanovich, Justin M. & Fuller, Rhema D. & Murty, Cassandra J. Coble & Percy, Vernon E. & Silverstein, Lauren A. & Chung, Michael, 2015. "Managing sport for social change: The effects of intentional design and structure in a sport-based service learning initiative," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 69-85.
    20. LeCrom, Carrie W. & Martin, Tiesha & Dwyer, Brendan & Greenhalgh, Greg, 2019. "The role of management in achieving health outcomes in SFD programmes: A stakeholder perspective," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 53-67.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:152-161. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.