The questionnaire was constructed to identify the gender policies adopted by the governing sports boards and the nature of gender relations inside the NSFs. There are 41 questions, some of which are inspired by the four gender dimensions according to Connell’s model: production relations, power relations, emotional relations and symbolic dimensions (Connell, 2002). Connell’s dimensions are also considered in other studies focusing on gender and sports governance (Adriaanse & Scholfield, 2013). The questionnaire also comprises a set of questions about gender policies adopted by the NSFs, and a final question about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender discrimination. We have used Likert scales to gain a measure of the participants’ attitudes and opinions toward equality and inclusion in sport governance.
The questionnaire was constructed with the participation of all members of the project. Based on gender theory, the questions were formulated to approach several dimensions of gender relations in the NSFs and, in particular, to gather information about the gender composition and characteristics of the boards of directors and the relations between women and men on the boards. After a first draft, the questionnaire was discussed several times and revised by the five researchers working on the project, and also translated into five languages. Finally, a pretest was carried out in each country by each participant with respondents related to sports governance to test the comprehension and reliability of the questions. The questionnaire was distributed via email to NSFs using contact information on their webpages, and follow-up reminders requesting completion were sent. A key advantage of using this questionnaire was that the team could gather responses from a relatively large number of people and also do so during COVID-19 restrictions.
By constructing a questionnaire, the GESPORT team managed to produce a measure research tool that can be used by other researchers in their studies.
Below is the link to the questionnaire translated into each of the five languages of the project.
The link to access the questionnaire also is in:
Questionnaire: Gender equality in the governing boards of national sports federations of Europe. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6835162