Content analysis of mixed research methods in sports management journals with emphasis on marketing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the method of mixed research and the process of selecting designs used in articles published in sports management journals with emphasis on marketing. For this purpose, all articles published in sports management journals that had a marketing approach were selected as a sample. The statistical sample was the total number and including articles published and related to marketing in Iranian scientific-research journals until the end of the electronic versions of the journals from (2010) to (2019). The method used in the research was content analysis method. The tool used was a coded checklist, the validity of which was assessed by sports management experts. The reliability of the sheets was about 84% using the coefficient of agreement between the coders (Scott test). NVivo software was used to analyze the data. The results showed that only 18 articles were mixed, of which only 5 had mixed designs. Also, the results of this study showed that only 2 articles of qualitative data classification software were used. The results of the present study show that the use of mixed research method in these publications is in the early period and little is known and it is hoped that in the future it will be considered by researchers. Therefore, it is expected that this research, in addition to identifying existing, past problems and limitations, has a forward-looking approach to discovering opportunities and orienting researchers in the optimal use of combined research methods.