Research Ideas

Research ideas is a new concept we are trying to get up and running. For it to work we need site users to add their ideas and research needs…

The idea is to provide a connection point, a meeting place/notice board for those working in sport and recreation organisations and researchers (whether tertiary/commercial).

We particularly see this as an opportunity for post-graduate students studying sport and recreation and related disciplines to connect with sport and recreation organisations by responding to notices on research topics, priorities, strategies and ideas that sport/recreation organisations need help with.

Why are you doing this?

We often get sport and recreation organisations contacting us to ask if we know of post-graduate students who could do some research for them.

We also have post-graduate students who contact us saying “I need a research topic for my Masters, or PhD”.

Heads of research at tertiary institutions also contact us and ask what are current topics that students could help with as part of applied study.

Commercial research organisations also get in touch to offer their services. So, we have decided to help by creating this meeting space for sector organisations and researchers.

How does it work?

A sport or recreation organisation may have research topic that they want completed, say to run a survey of member satisfaction with the services provided by the organisation, and they don’t know where to start, or they want to find out more about a new way of doing things and need someone to do a literature review.

Researchers/post-graduate students who are knowledgeable/interested in the topic area could then contact the organisation directly and offer to help with the project.

In some cases organisations may have a small budget for the work, in others it could be a case of an in-kind arrangement with the organisation gaining research expertise to complete the project and a post-graduate student benefiting from having a ‘real world’ research project (even a placement) to work on and so a great learning opportunity.

Alternatively, a tertiary research institution may have a number of post-graduate students (the student bank) it wants to place as part of a course of study, such as a summer scholarship.

Contact details can be posted, so sport/recreation organisations can get in touch with the Head of Research in a Faculty to arrange a placement and research topic.

Disclaimer

Note that, unless otherwise specified, the research ideas posted are the responsibility of the submitter, not Sport NZ.

We are simply acting as hosts for the connecting space. Sport NZ may post and facilitate some research ideas/projects that we would like organisations and researchers to collaborate on, for example we are interested in getting some case studies completed that capture the values of sport and recreation at the community level.

This work is separate from Sport NZ’s own programme of research. The Research Ideas concept allows the sport and recreation sector to let researchers know about the topics they need information on and to create opportunities for researchers to work with organisations to meet research needs.

If you want to discuss the Research Ideas section please get in touch with Grant McLean, Principal Advisor Research at Sport NZ, e-mail: grant.mclean@sportnz.org.nz

Current research ideas