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Sport, Physical Recreation and the LawKaren Bill aa School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure , University ofWolverhampton , UKPublished online: 17 Dec 2010.

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Book Reviews

SportPolicyandDevelopment:Anintroduction

Authors: Daniel Bloyce and Andy Smith

Publisher: Routledge, London/New York

2009. 212 pp.

ISBN: 978-0-415-40407-5, £24.99

2009 was an extremely productive research

year for both Daniel Bloyce and Andy Smith.

Together, they saw the publication of their

jointly edited International Journal of Sport

Policy, while the latter also co-authored two

other books, Disability, Sport and Society

(Thomas and Smith, 2009) and An Introduction

to Drugs in Sport: Addicted to winning?

(Waddington and Smith, 2009) Sport Policy

and Development is the latest research

product of an admirably industrious period.

The book is divided into seven main chap-

ters: each of which can equally be read indi-

vidually, or as in its design, a whole book.

The chapters discuss: the sport policy

process, the historical emergence of sport

policy, youth sports (including P.E.), social

inclusion and community sport, health pro-

motion through sport, elite sports develop-

ment, and of greatest personal interest to

the reviewer, sports mega-events. As individ-

ual chapters, they work very well and

discuss important dimensions of an under-

graduate module diet which is based upon

policy challenges in the field of sport. I

have adopted this text onto my key reading

list on my similarly themed module and I

know that students are finding the clear pres-

entation and articulation of important and

complex ideas to be very useful indeed.

I personally find the final chapter on the

politics/policy surrounding mega-events to

be the most stimulating in the book. In this

chapter, the authors focus on London’s

successful 2012 Olympic bid. In doing this,

they very successfully create a conceptual

prism in which the competing aims of

varying local, national and global actors –

in the sporting and social/political spheres

– can be comprehensively explored.

Although the research is principally desk-

based, the chapter makes a number of inter-

esting points about the difficult (economic

regeneration) legacy promises of 2012, and

how these are reconciled with both available

budgets/resources and sporting aims.

Chapter 4, which looks at the issue of

social inclusion through community sports

development, is also noteworthy. Again, the

chapter’s evidence is drawn through

library-based research but sport is used in

the chapter to critically grasp key ‘New

Labour’ policies for promoting youth engage-

ment. In this chapter, Bloyce and Smith

clearly demonstrate their critical position

for understanding important but ideologi-

cally positioned government policy issues

related to sport. Undergraduate students

will find the analytical processes embedded

within the chapter invaluable.

However, the absence of a clear conclusion

to the book is slightly disappointing. From the

outset of the book (as early as page 3, but

running through the introduction and

Chapter 1), the authors make clear their pos-

ition as figurational sociologists. The lack of a

concluding chapter, where the theories, prac-

tice and policies detailed in the main chapters

of the book could have been clearly tied

together, leaves their theoretical claim less

certain than it might have been. The authors

also appear to treat ‘sociology’ (Chapter 1)

as a singular, uncontested approach or

perspective which can help to understand

Managing Leisure ISSN 1360-6719 print/ISSN 1466-450X online

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

DOI: 10.1080/13606710903549579

Managing Leisure 16, 77–86 (January 2011)

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policy issues, when the academic terrain is

clearly more complex than is suggested.

After all, ‘sociology’ is a discipline possessing

multiple, and sometimes clashing, schools of

thought and theories. But these criticisms are

not major as, importantly, a more subtle and

textured approach to understanding the

policy approaches is generally adopted

across the text.

The detail in the book is both wide ranging

and impressive. By working in a social

science of sport unit, I know that these are

the types of issues which are both needed

in a sport sociology curriculum and, cru-

cially, that the students are keen to debate

in classes. At the end of each chapter, the

student-friendly approach is underlined by

the suggestion of a number of additional

student readings, as well as helpful revision

questions and recommended websites

which illustrate the chapters’ key points.

In summary, this book is an extremely

useful teaching aid. Students will be encour-

aged to read the whole text, but equally,

tutors can specifically recommend individual

chapters. I know that many undergraduate

sport students find understanding of policy

issues difficult to grasp. This book makes a

strong attempt to address this issue, which

both students and tutors will appreciate

immensely. It makes a clear, concise and

important contribution to the existing sport

policy literature.

Peter Millward # 2011

Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

REFERENCES

Thomas, N. and Smith, A. (2009) Disability, Sport

and Society: An Introduction, London,

Routledge.

Waddington, I. and Smith, A. (2009) An Introduction

to Drugs in Sport: Addicted to Winning?,

London, Routledge.

Sociology of Sport and Social Theory

Author: Earl Smith (Ed.)

Publisher: Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL

2010. 239pp.

ISBN: 978-0-7360-7572-5, £41

At first sight you might think this book out-

lines how social theories could be used, or

have been applied, within the sociology of

sport. Certainly this is what the title

implies. The contents, divided into sections

on ‘Great Theorists’, ‘Research Guided by

Mid-Level Theories’, and ‘Micro-Level The-

ories’, also suggest a broad and systematic

review. But then there is a section on

‘Theories of Inequality’. Are these theories

discrete from ‘Great’, ‘Mid-Level’ and

‘Micro-Level Theories’? And why not have

chapters on functionalism or Marxism? To

be fair, Smith justifies this omission on the

basis that these theories are already known

to first- and second-year sociology students

(though we might ask in what depth?), but

the absence of chapters devoted to either

Bourdieu or Foucault are major omissions.

To compound matters, figurational sociology

is discussed twice, as both a ‘Great’ and

‘Micro-Level’ theory. If you are looking for a

clear and comprehensive review of the appli-

cation of social theory within the sociology

of sport, this book is not for you.

So what is this book designed to do? In

contrast to the ‘well-developed literature

that describes various issues related to

sport and society’, Smith’s collection aims

to cover topics ‘through a theoretical treat-

ment that is broader’ and, we are informed,

‘unique’ (p. xi). The book addresses Smith’s

belief that sociology of sport research is

poorly theorized, indeed ‘often derided for

its atheoretical underpinnings’ (p. xii). The

book is designed to ‘correct’ this for, while

‘the systematic study of sport as a social

institution has come a long way . . . there is

still much to be done to further integrate

the sociology of sport as a subdiscipline

inside of the larger field of sociology’ (p. 216).

78 Book Reviews

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I think that Smith is wrong to ‘accept’ criti-

cisms of the sociology of sport as largely

atheoretical. He both fails to cite specific cri-

ticisms or recognize the plethora of texts

with an explicitly theoretical focus (e.g.

Caudwell, 2006; Hylton, 2009; Rail, 1998). He

is also wholly wrong to portray this text as

unique in its theoretical breadth, again failing

to acknowledge existing texts which do this

effectively (e.g. Giulianotti, 2004; Jarvie and

Maguire, 1994; Maguire and Young, 2002).

But even if Smith were right, would this

text achieve its goals? The coverage of the-

ories is broad, but the inclusion of a

chapter on ‘reversal theory’ takes us into

psychology. Similarly, and not to say that I

did not enjoy Ian Ritchie’s chapter, ‘the Soci-

ology of Science’ is a sociological sub-disci-

pline rather than a social theory. Nancy

Spencer’s chapter on C. Wright Mills and

the sociological imagination is similarly pro-

blematic. While citing a range of theoretical

influences – embracing Foucault, cultural

studies, and interpretative sociology – in

essence Spencer argues that the Millsian

approach can be reduced to autoethnogra-

phy. I do not agree, but if Spencer is right,

why does the chapter appear under ‘Great

theories’? Bonnie Berry contributes a

chapter using symbolic interactionism (and

dramaturgy in particular) for which the

empirical data are derived from a qualitative

content analysis of health/sport magazines.

Symbolic, yes, but should not symbolic inter-

actionism recognize the significance of

interaction?

In the introduction, Smith provides an

overview chart which epitomizes how con-

fused this text is. Zymunt Bauman is cited

as a ‘proponent’ of Wright Mills’ ‘sociological

imagination’, Giddens as a ‘proponent’ of

‘interpretative social action theory’ and

‘structuration theory’, and John Sugden and

Alan Tomlinson as ‘proponents’ of structura-

tion theory. All of these descriptions are

questionable. Some of the texts identified

as ‘landmarks in the sociology of sport’ are

texts which make no reference to sport

(e.g. Gidden’s Sociology) while others (e.g.

Harry Edwards’ Revolt of the Black Athlete

and Michael Messner’s Taking the Field)

seem peculiar choices as landmarks in race,

class, gender theory and feminist theory,

respectively.

This is not to say that the majority of chap-

ters were poor. Indeed I found those by

Beamish, Ritchie, Schimmel and Yamane

et al. particularly interesting. Rather, the

text does not achieve what it sets out to do.

It may be that existing US texts do often fail

to provide advanced theoretical discussion.

Indeed, despite the growth in sport and

social theory texts in the UK in recent years

(see above), this is the first book of its kind

to come out of the USA for over 20 years

(Rees and Miracle, 1986). A text like this is

clearly overdue, but this text will neither

advance the theorization of sport nor per-

suade mainstream sociologists to take the

subdiscipline seriously. Rather it may turn

out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating

the idea that the sociology of sport is weak

theoretically.

Dominic Malcolm # 2011

University of Loughborough, UK

REFERENCES

Caudwell, J. (ed) (2006) Sport, Sexualities and

Queer Theory, London, Routledge.

Giulianotti, R. (ed) (2004) Sport and Modern Social

Theorists, Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Hylton, K. (2009) , ‘Race’ and Sport: Critical Race

Theory, London, Routledge.

Jarvie, G. and Maguire, J. (1994) Sport and Leisure

in Social Thought, London, Routledge.

Maguire, J. and Young, K. (eds) (2002) Theory,

Sport & Society, London, JAI.

Rail, G. (ed) (1998) Sport and Postmodern Times,

Albany, State University of New York Press.

Rees, R. and Miracle, A. (eds) (1986) Sport and

Social Theory, Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics

Publishers.

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Sport, Physical Recreation and the Law

Author: Hazel Hartley

Publisher: Routledge, London and New York

2009. 352 pp.

ISBN: 978-0-415-32185-3 (pb), £29.99

Hazel Hartley is a respected figure in the

learning and teaching of sports law. Her

numerous years of teaching experience in

higher education contribute to a well

crafted book which puts difficult legal con-

cepts and case law into everyday English in

a ‘student-centric’ way.

Thebook isnotedasanessential text forstu-

dents of sport, recreation and law. However, it

also has considerable value to academics. The

summary sections at the end of each chapter,

for instance, make for very useful reference

points for colleagues and sum up the key

issues precisely in each chapter.

It is a very comprehensive book, with nine

chapters, covering all the main legal topics

apropos sport and recreation as one would

expect. These include:

. socio-legal aspects of sports violence and

criminal liability. negligence and defences against negligence. manslaughter by individuals and organiz-

ations in sport. principles of natural justice, disciplinary

tribunals and doping. discrimination, harassment and child

protection. risk management, statutory duties, and

breaches of health and safety. criminal liability – recognized sports,

hazing and cage fighting.

Chapter 1 gives considerable thought to the

nature of student learning around law, con-

scious of how jargon oriented the subject

can be and the general challenges faced by

sport students often studying law for the

first time. It begins with what is almost a

study skills section for non-law graduates

to introduce how to search for legal material

as well as understanding the legal system.

The legal system is at best a mind-numbing

topic to teach and may well have benefited

from some illustrations as well as a glossary

section for students to navigate their way

around the terminology and to serve as an

aide-memoire for unusual words such as

plaintiff, etc. That said, what is true of this

chapter and indeed the entire book is that

it enables and encourages the student to

build up a bank of legal resources by under-

taking different exercises (over 300!) as well

as resource files, inviting the student to

collect and contribute to materials leading

to a much richer learning experience.

One of the appeals of encouraging stu-

dents to contribute and discuss a wide

range of resources which they have come

across in their daily lives is that the author

is able to draw upon popular culture to

discuss legal concepts. For instance, explor-

ing causation in a class action, through the

media of a Few Good Men and also You’ve

Been Framed in relation to exploring risk,

consent, foreseeability of harm or injury.

The message that comes across loud and

clear is that a resource does not have to

have the title ‘sport and law’ to be relevant

to the subject.

Chapters 2 and 3 cover the area of tort law

in terms of the principles and defences of

negligence. What is different about the

normal customary text on tort law is the

ability of the author to drill down further

into the nuances of tort law which is very

engaging and challenging. Chapter 2, for

instance, looks at the tort of law and duty

of care, but moves into the analysis of how

duty of care possibly differs when it comes

to emergency services which really helps

unpack the nature of duty of care and the

notion of a breach of duty.

The author, throughout the book, inspires

academic debate around legal principles by

embracing a multi-disciplinary approach to

the study of law as it applies to sport and

physical recreation. Its claim to be the first

textbook on this subject for students and

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practitioners could be justified on the basis

that the work of Dougherty et al. (2007) is

fundamentally about the American legal

system and that of Collins (1993) was more

specifically a recreation and leisure facilities

based law text. It is the application of the

multi-disciplinary approach which sets it

apart from other sport law text books.

Chapter 4 takes a critical socio-legal lens

using hegemonic masculinity, power and

sport-specific subcultures to approach vio-

lence and forms of discrimination. Chapter

5 takes the student through a brief overview

of discrimination, harassment and child pro-

tection issues. Through a sociological lens

gender, stereotyping and discrimination law

are used by the author to present a challen-

ging and thought provoking assessment.

Concepts such as aggression, intimidation

and assertion are contested as are sex,

race, disability and gender which ‘can often

assist students in their understanding of

the perpetuation, tolerance or lack of resist-

ance or action against unacceptable or

unlawful conduct’ (p. 277).

Chapter 6 provides a very useful chapter

on risk management while Chapter 7

touches upon a topic rarely covered in

sport, recreation and law modules – that of

manslaughter. Here it is compelling to see

how the author makes cross references to

particular areas of law – for instance, in ana-

lysing elements of civil law negligence and

comparing those with involuntary man-

slaughter by gross negligence.

Law is fluid and the author valiantly

attempts to cover ongoing legal reform

areas. Chapter 8 introduces students to the

principles of natural justice and sports disci-

plinary processes. At the time of writing, the

high profile case of Oscar Pistorius compet-

ing with able-bodied athletes using his pros-

thetic limbs reached the CAS panel and the

English Courts, while unfinished business

in the form of the 1995 consultation of the

Law Commission of England and Wales on

consent and offences against the person

dominates the first part of Chapter

9. Chapter 9 subsequently puts on its socio-

logical lens once more to throw a critical

light on stereotypes, assumptions, power

and subcultures in relation to participation

in high-risk activities and activities such as

hazing, punishments and horseplay leading

to serious injury or death. This chapter par-

ticularly inspires academic debate around

the development of ‘City Running’ and

‘Parkour’ activities as an area ripe for further

socio-legal research.

In summary, this book should be a must

have for all students studying in the area of

sport, recreation and the law as well as

more general sports students since many

aspects of law permeate sporting life.

Karen Bill # 2011

School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure,

University of Wolverhampton, UK

REFERENCES

Collins, V. (1993) Recreation and the Law, London;

New York, Spon Press.

Dougherty, N. J., Goldberger, A. S. and Carpenter,

L. J. (2007) Sport, Physical Activity and the Law

third edition, USA, Sagamore Publishers.

Examining Sports Development

Author: Mike Collins (Ed.)

Publisher: Routledge, Oxford

2010, 1st ed. 327 pp.

ISBN: 978-0-415-33990-2, £29.99

Sports development has been enjoying

increasing popularity as a theoretical and

practical concept which has been applied in

a multitude of policy contexts. It has

become an integral part of national and inter-

national polices designed to tackle wider

social issues such as anti-social behaviour,

obesity, unemployment, health, education

and peace. However, there has been a

dearth of empirical examinations of what

Book Reviews 81

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really works, how and for whom. Examining

Sports Development does exactly that; it fills

an important gap in teaching and researching

of sports development and offers valuable

lessons for policy-makers and professionals.

Recently, the editors of the Academy of

Management Journal (AMJ) addressed the

question ‘what makes management research

interesting, and why does it matter?’ In a

well-known article ‘That’s Interesting!’,

Davis (1971) argued that what most makes

scholarly work interesting is that it confirms

some (but not all) of the assumptions held by

its audience. Following on his work, the

editors suggested that:

if a scholarly article denies all of a reader’s

assumptions ground, the reader is likely to

treat the article as absurd. In contrast, if an

article is consistent with all of a reader’s

assumptions ground, he or she is likely to

see the argument as obvious and thus not

interesting. (Bartunek et al., 2006, p. 11)

Therefore, denying only part of the assump-

tion ground is crucial for making academic

writing interesting. The AMJ board

members further identified counterintuitive,

quality, good writing, new theory/finding,

practical implications and impact as the

main reasons for rating academic studies

‘most interesting’.

Examining Sports Development meets all

those criteria by confirming our assumptions

about sports development while denying

many safely held ones at the same time.

The editor skilfully combines his 37 years

of strategic planning, teaching and training,

research and evaluation of British sport

with a comprehensive review of a wide

range of policy documents and academic

studies to offer a well-structured book organ-

ised in four parts: (A) a chronology of sports

development, (B) case studies of organising

for sports development, (C) case studies of

sports development processes and out-

comes, and (D) conclusions.

The first part traces the development of

sports development from the 1980s until

present, by identifying four main periods

marked by different policy priorities. The

second part looks at the organisation of

sports development by providing five case

studies dealing with national youth sport

structure, strategic planning at county

level, partnership management, developing

participation and excellence, and sport in a

devolved system of Scotland. The third part

examines processes and outcomes of

sports development through an analysis of

six case studies on coaching, club sport man-

agement, national project management, out-

reach sport interventions, physical activity

promoting health initiatives, and promotion

of participation and social inclusion. The

final part provides an overview of sports

development as a job, a career and training

as well as a theoretical interpretation of the

lessons from the case studies.

The book is counterintuitive, as – for

example – it challenges the folk wisdom by

submitting that ‘any assumption that the

UK undergraduate sports programmes

provide an effective understanding of youth

and community practice or play work might

be misplaced’ (p. 271). It also makes it clear

that the starting point of any developmental

work should be the individual and not the

targets, and brands Sport England’s model

of sports development as aggressive, inter-

ventionist managerialism, and Collins con-

cludes that

DCMS and Sport England are currently

heading up a policy cul-de-sac, working

against an unhelpful socio-economic context

including health, wealth and class inequality,

trying to use NGBs to promote participation

(for most NGBs traditionally a secondary

issue to improving performance), ignoring

the older groups offering the greatest health

gains and savings, not being upfront about

likely facilities shortfall, and sidelining

and downplaying local authorities, the main

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gateway into sport on an open-access basis.

(p. 314)

The book offers quality in that it uses a wide

sample of case studies which make the

complex nature of sports development look

simple and elegant. The fit between data

and concept/issue is almost exceptional.

The case studies employ various method-

ologies for data collection and interpretation

ranging from personal observations and

experiences to the use of semi-structured

questionnaires, document analyses and his-

torical surveys.

The writing is clear and engaging, offering

rich descriptions of organisational efforts,

processes and outcomes emanating from con-

tributors’ personal encounters. Of particular

value are the juxtapositions between local

experiences and national trends over long

periods of time allowing contributors to high-

light what policy lessons have and have not

been learned. The breadth and depth of

policy and research reports used is a testi-

mony to the competence of all contributors.

The book provides new findings at two

levels: case-specific and national policy initiat-

ives. It also draws some international compari-

sons and warns against uncritical borrowing

of policies from other countries with very

different welfare and sport systems and tra-

ditions. In summarising the case studies,

Collins identifies three overarching themes

in sports development including partner-

ships, leadership, and jobs, training and

professionalism. A convincing case is made

for sports development as a unique field,

profession and body of knowledge.

Naturally, the greatest contribution of the

book is in its practical implications as it gen-

erates usable knowledge in the real world.

However, I was left thinking that it just fell

short of proposing a framework for theory

development. The case studies and the theor-

etical discussion in the final chapter provide

a good ground for that. The full impact of

the book is yet to be determined but it has

already created a repository of ideas for

undergraduate and graduate dissertations

as well as major research projects in the

field. The book can also be used as a valuable

teaching text in a range of sport courses.

Vassil Girginov # 2011

Brunel University, UK

REFERENCES

Bartunek, J., Rynes, S. and Ireland, D. (2006) What

makes management research interesting and

why does it matter? Academy of Management

Journal, 49(1), 9–15.

Davis, M. (1971) That’s interesting! Towards a phe-

nomenology of sociology and a sociology of

phenomenology, Philosophy of the Social

Sciences, 1, 309–344.

Sport, Media and Society

Authors: Eileen Kennedy and Laura Hills

Publisher: Berg, Oxford

2009, 1st ed. 205 pp.

ISBN: 978-1-845-20687-1 (pb), £17.99

The day I picked up this book to review the

front pages of England’s national newspapers

were dominated by images of England foot-

ball captain, John Terry, and news of his

alleged affair with a teammate’s girlfriend.

This particular news-story usurped Tony

Blair who, the previous day, was giving evi-

dence to the inquiry investigating the inva-

sion of Iraq. Such events demonstrate the

need for students to develop the skills

necessary to understand and critique the

relationship between sport and the media.

This 200-page primer acts as an instant,

accessible and interesting entry point for

students. For those enrolled on under-

graduate programmes who only fleetingly

study the media, it contains informative and

concise explanations, while for those stu-

dents who require a deeper understanding,

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the book offers useful clarification of the key

issues and provides a stepping stone to

more specialised texts. The language and

format are clear with the reader introduced

to a variety of key theorists and their ideas.

Each of the eight chapters considers a

different facet of the sports media and

opens with a list of the key concepts to be

explored in the subsequent twenty or so

pages. British sporting examples, such as

football and athletics, illustrate the discus-

sions, complemented by examples from the

USA which most UK readers should be fam-

iliar with. Each chapter concludes with sug-

gestions aimed at encouraging students to

undertake their own research and will be

especially useful to those preparing their

final year project and who either need to fam-

iliarise themselves with a particular medium

or who are looking for interesting topics to

research.

The book begins by introducing a range of

theorists and techniques used to analyse the

media. Suggesting that a semiotic approach

is needed to make sense of images and

words, the authors offer an incremental

approach to analysis and strike a careful

balance between introducing the concepts

and applying them to recognisable examples.

The second chapter about sport on film

focuses on the signifying systems used

within film (e.g. camera, lighting, editing

and sound), using Martin Scorsese’s (1980)

Raging Bull as the main illustration. While

most sports students will be familiar with

this film, it might have been useful to

mention the relationship between film noir

and boxing films (e.g. Champion; The Harder

They Fall; Body and Soul).

In their chapter on newspapers, the

authors identify how words and pictures

are used to construct various discourses of

sport. Focussing on language, construction

and the framing of news stories, an interest-

ing case study is presented on British

athlete Kelly Holmes and how her success,

and personal life, were reported in British

newspapers. In a related chapter on maga-

zines, the authors then explore their con-

struction, layout, cover, editorial, content

and composition. Selecting high-end, glossy

health and climbing magazines, Kennedy

and Hills explain how different journalistic

styles are employed to appeal to different

audiences.

The chapter on advertising uses textual

analysis to explore how television advertis-

ing feeds into a desire for social distinction.

It might have been useful if there was more

contextualisation and discussion of the co-

dependency between sport, media and spon-

sors, perhaps by drawing upon Jhally and

Chomsky’s work. The book does however

employ Foucault and de Certeau to guide

the reader though leisure parks and

centres, gyms, museums and stadia and

shops, stopping off at the National Football

Museum, currently in Preston (before it relo-

cates to either Manchester or London), and

Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

In the introduction, the promise of new

technologies is clearly made with social

media beginning to colonise many areas of

social life. However, Kennedy and Hills elect

to focus on the branding rather than the

medium, with no discussion on how new

technologies are allowing individual players

and clubs to bypass the mainstream media

in their attempts to manage and control

their own image/brand. The term ‘user-gen-

erated content’ does not appear with simi-

larly no mention of the opportunities and

threats posed by Web 2.0. It would have

been useful to draw attention to how new

forms of social media are changing the way

fans, athletes, sports bodies and corpor-

ations relate to each other (through fan

sites, message boards and blogs). This

absence might be explained as a conse-

quence of the speed at which the technology

is changing, but in the ‘suggestions for

further reading’, the most recent text dates

from 2005, a shortcoming for a book pub-

lished in 2009.

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Reading a book from cover-to-cover is an

all-too-rare event in these teaching and

research dominated periods. However,

having done so, this was an enjoyable and

informative read with the authors achieving

their aim of providing a theoretical and

methodological framework for analysing

sports presentation in different media. On a

personal level, I would have liked to see

some recognition of the growth of sports

literature, but this is a minor quibble given

the overall content, structure and finish of

the book. This book is a very welcome

addition to the existing core texts by Rowe,

Boyle and Haynes, Whannel and Wenner.

Jon Dart # 2011

Leeds Trinity University College, UK

Applied Research and Evaluation Methods

in Recreation (1st ed.)

Author: Diane C. Blankenship

Publisher: Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL,

2010. 188 pp.

ISBN: 978-0-7360-7719-4 (hb), £42.50

Likening researchers to police detectives

and the research process to investigative

work, this text offers an introduction to the

basics of research and evaluation for parks

and recreation professionals. It is written in

accessible language in recognition that the

growing requirement on recreation pro-

fessionals to undertake research and evalu-

ation can rouse what Blankenship describes

as ‘images of boring desk work, tedious

math and mind-numbing busywork’. The

emphasis on offering realistic examples

from the world of parks and recreation is

particularly useful in demystifying research

and effectively connecting readers to the

subject matter. Moreover, the various learn-

ing exercises at the end of each chapter

allow readers to apply and assess their

understanding of the points covered.

This hardback book is divided into 12

chapters that take the beginner researcher

on a step-by-step journey through the

research process. It begins by introducing

readers to the role and importance of

research and evaluation through examples

grounded in the parks and recreation field.

This is followed in Chapter 2 by an overview

of the scientific method of inquiry and

evaluation research approaches, although a

weakness here is that the focus is solely

on positivist scientific-experimental and par-

ticipant-oriented evaluation models. It also

includes an outline of the steps involved in

carrying out these forms of research and an

overview of basic data collection techniques

that those new to research should find

enlightening.

Chapter 3 focuses on the basics of design-

ing research studies through the develop-

ment of effective research questions and

the selection of appropriate research

designs, outlining action research; quantitat-

ive approaches incorporating experimental,

correlation and survey designs; and qualitat-

ive approaches, including ethnography,

historical and case-study designs, all with

illustrative discipline-specific examples. Fol-

lowing on from this, Chapter 4 provides

extensive information on the purpose and

benefits of conducting a literature review.

This useful section also explains the

various types of information available and

sketches ways of identifying and accessing

scholarly literature that will be of particular

use to those without a research background.

Narrowing the focus to the scope of

research and evaluation studies, Chapter 5

discusses variables and the use, or not, of

hypotheses in research and evaluation. A

summary of research ethics follows in

Chapter 6, while Chapter 7 discusses

random and non-random sampling tech-

niques and touches on the principles and

techniques used to ensure rigorous research

in relation to sampling.

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Chapter 8 discusses the political and

logistical considerations surrounding the

management and practicalities of research

and evaluation projects, while the strengths

and limitations of questionnaires, interviews,

observations and other data collection tools

are briefly covered in Chapter 9. An overview

of validity and reliability in qualitative and

quantitative research and evaluation designs

follows, while Chapter 11 outlines the

rudiments of data analysis, although this

almost exclusively focuses on basic statistical

measures and analyses and offers only limited

explanation of how to analyse qualitative

data. The final chapter offers some useful

advice on writing research reports, including

deciding appropriate content and presen-

tation, and is followed by a thorough and

convenient glossary of key terms.

Usefully, an online student resource sits

alongside the text and complements the

learning exercises at the end of each

chapter. This allows the content to be

extended beyond the chapters and offers

an opportunity for more dynamic learning.

It features one qualitative and one quantitat-

ive academic article and various case studies

for analysis and/or discussion, documents

and data relating to the in-text learning exer-

cises and additional downloadable learning

exercises linked to the material covered

in each chapter. It also includes online

resources for instructors, including sample

course syllabi, ideas for how to teach the

material covered in each chapter, a package

of short-answer tests and even pre-prepared

Powerpoint slides. Although some teaching

professionals may find this prescriptive, it

offers a detailed and structured approach

for beginner educationalists and those with

less expertise in this area.

The US focus of the book limits in places

the usefulness of the materials for those

working in other countries. This is parti-

cularly true of the online resources, and

teachers would need to make adjustments

to get the full benefit of the material. In

addition, the organisation of the chapters

occasionally seems disjointed – the

chapter on research ethics in particular

breaks up the flow of the book and would

perhaps be better placed closer to the begin-

ning, while the chapter covering literature

reviews is oddly placed after the chapter on

identifying the research question – though

an attempt to synthesize the material to

follow the steps in the research and evalu-

ation process is made at the beginning and

end of each chapter. Overall, however, the

book is well suited to its target audience of

recreational practitioners or those training

to this end who have little or no prior experi-

ence of research or evaluation.

Melanie Lang # 2011

Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies

Edge Hill University, Lancashire, UK

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