Mixed methods in sport management: A review and directions for future research

Mixed methods research integrates qualitative and quantitative methods into a harmonised approach. Over time, conducting mixed methods research has become increasingly popular within sport management scholarship. Since applications differ across fields, it is imperative to review the state of mixed methods research within sport management to consolidate our current knowledge and enhance future practices and contributions. The aim of this study is to review the prevalence of mixed methods research in sport management scholarship, assess its quality and methodological contributions, and provide direction to help scholars write (and review) mixed methods research in our field. We conduct a scoping review of 133 sport management related mixed methods studies. Our analysis identifies the prevalence of authors, journals, year, design, samples, data collection, and data analysis. Borrowing from critical insight within mixed methods scholarship, we assess each study’s mixed methods quality (i.e. justification, type, distinct results, and mixing) and methodological contributions. Our review yields three novel contributions. First, we provide an overview of mixed methods research in sport management scholarship, highlighting a substantial publication increase since 2020. Second, despite the increasing frequency of mixed methods research, we identify that sport management scholarship infrequently produces high-quality studies relative to common standards developed by leading mixed methods scholars. The final contribution of this study is that we provide direction for writing (and reviewing) mixed methods research in sport management scholarship. To do so, we present four paths with indicative questions to help scholars develop stronger mixed methods sections, integrations, visualisations, and contributions.