Este libro está dirigido a todas aquellas personas interesadas en las Ciencias Sociales, en especial los estudiantes y profesorado en Ciencias del Deporte, que quieren realizar una investigación empírica o bien analizar correctamente los datos procedentes de otras investigaciones. Por tanto, no es un libro científico sino un libro de recursos centrado en las necesidades de las personas que necesitan apoyo práctico para realizar una investigación empírica. Se divide en diez capítulos correspondiéndose cada uno de ellos con las etapas de una investigación empírica. Cada capítulo comienza con un cuadro sinóptico donde destacan los pasos a seguir en la etapa que se trata. Luego, al final hay una lista de control que permite corroborar si se han llevado a cabo correctamente esos pasos. Las definiciones se destacan en fondo gris, los resúmenes –que contienen los aspectos esenciales- en negrita y cada uno de los conceptos tratados está ilustrado con muchos ejemplos relacionados con las Ciencias del Deporte (Medicina, Psicología, Antropología, etc.)

Mixed methods research techniques, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements, have become well established throughout the social, behavioural and natural sciences. This is the first book to focus on the application of mixed methods research in the movement sciences, specifically in sport, physical education and dance. Researchers and practitioners in each of these fields are concerned with the study of habitual behaviour in naturalistic contexts, and of the concurrent and sequential nature of events and states, precisely the kind of work that multi-method research design can help illuminate. The book is arranged into four sections. The first provides a thorough overview of mixed methods procedures and research design, and summarizes their applicability to the movement sciences. The remaining sections then offer detailed case studies of mixed methods research in team and individual sports (analyzing hidden patterns of play and optimising technique); kinesics and dance (analyzing motor skills behaviour in childhood, and the complexity of motor responses in dance); and physical education (detecting interaction patterns in group situations, and optimizing non-verbal communication by teachers and sports coaches). Mixed Methods Research in the Movement Sciences offers an important new tool for researchers and helps to close the gap between the analysis of expert performance and our understanding of the general principles of movement science. It is important reading for any student, researcher or professional with an interest in motor control, sport and dance pedagogy, coaching, performance analysis or decision-making in sport.

For a long time, various different lobbying sectors have claimed that the use of video technology is an effective aid in decision-making. Now the IFAB has taken a historic step in the approval of experiments on the use of video to provide support to football refereeing. The Use of Video Technologies in Refereeing Football and Other Sports analyses the capacity of audio-visual technology from different perspectives to help understand the best implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in football and, more generally, in other sports. This book addresses in-depth interdisciplinary viewpoints on the need and the opportunity of the implementation procedures regarding how to use it, considering that it could lead to very important changes. The book goes on to examine various approaches to the most interesting topics for players, amateurs, coaches, referees and referees coaches. Offering viewpoints from both academics and professionals, this new volume addresses the VAR issue in a multidisciplinary way, analysing the implications of video replay application in football from the perspective of players, coaches, television professionals, referees, amateurs, sports lawyers, media and educators.