Design of research projects in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences

Abstract

The objectives of this study are: a) to ascertain the opinion of teaching and research staff (TRS) in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (PASS) on the academic value that the different kind of research projects/contracts should have; b) to ascertain the opinion of TRS in PASS on the most important criteria that should be borne in mind when designing and evaluating a research project/contract; and c) to compare the opinions of TRS in PASS with the existing evaluation criteria. The sample was comprised of 149 university professors who taught in the Bachelor’s in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in academic year 2013-2014, 92 of whom have not been the lead researchers in any project, and 57 of whom have worked on at least one research project. The instrument used to collect the data was the projects and contracts section of the “Questionnaire on quality criteria of university teaching and research staff in the physical activity and sport sciences (CTRS-PASS)”. The results indicate that the most important projects are European projects, followed by the RDI projects in the national plan. On the other hand, the aspects that were rated the most important within projects are their feasibility, the right methodology, and an adequate transfer of the results. These data can be useful for research teams in both designing and evaluating projects.