Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management

Qualitative Research Collective

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Overview

The research

The Qualitative Research Collective explore the social, cultural, historical, pedagogical and organizational dimensions of sport, recreation and physical activity. Using qualitative research methods, the Collective aims to understand lived experiences, uncover inequities and inform policies and practices that promote inclusive, safe and ethical participation in sport, recreation and physical activities. 

Areas of focus

  • Experiences of inclusion and exclusion in sport, recreation and education
  • Gender, sex and identity in athletic and recreation participation
  • Impacts of racism, ableism and other forms of discrimination in physical activity and leisure settings
  • Ethical issues in high performance and grassroots sport
  • Youth sport development
  • Embodiment in martial arts and combat sports
  • Outdoor and nature based education

Partnerships

Researchers in the QRC are currently partnerted in the community with including Winnipeg’s Anti-Racism in Sport Campaign, Sport Manitoba Coaching, Safe Sport Manitoba, Skeet Shooting Association of Manitoba and Educators for Climate Action MB. The QRC are affiliated with the interdisciplinary teams across Canada and internationally including Rethink Sport Project (University of Toronto; SSHRC Partnership Grant), International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (IPCC), Coaching Association of Ontario, Centre for Sport and Sustainability at UBC, Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development and  Ministry of Youth and Sport, Grenada, West Indies.

Dr. Dan Henhawk

Areas of focus

  • Conceptualizations of leisure
  • Socio-cultural study of sport and recreation
  • Leisure relation to our understanding of work
  • Indigenous notions of decolonization, indigenization, sovereignty and self-determination

More about Dr. Henhawk

Graduate students

  • Bryden Buckich (co-advisor MA)
  • Grace Olajumoke Babatunde (MA)
  • Hossein Rezai (Co-advised PhD)

Dr. Fabiana Turelli

Areas of focus

  • Sociology of sport
  • Critical theory
  • Intersectionality
  • Gender in martial arts and combat sports
  • Embodiment

More about Dr. Turelli

Graduate Students

Hossein Rezai (co-advised PhD)

Studying Harassment Experience in Women’s Running, and Understanding Narratives of Safety

SHE RUNS: Studying Harassment Experience in Women’s Running, and Understanding Narratives of Safety explores women’s experiences, perceptions and decisions related to risk and safety when running in a public space.

Fighting for Sustainable Empowerment

Fighting for Sustainable Empowerment: Improving Body-Self-Awareness with Newcomer Students at the University of Manitoba through Sports Karate and Critical Feminist Theory focuses on developing a pedagogical model for teaching self-identifying women and girls in martial arts while empowering women newcomer students for self-protection.

When we are not aware of the oppressions we face

When we are not aware of the oppressions we face: The embodiment of subalternity to obey and punish oneself in sport explores possible connections between lived experiences of oppression and the allowance for mistreatment in sports settings for athletes.

Dr. jay johnson

Areas of focus

  • Climate change on our physical experiences
  • Indigenous youth experience
  • Built environment and outdoor adventure-based education
  • Gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and homophobia in team initiation rituals

More about Dr. johnson

Graduate Students

  • Colleen Bytheway (PhD)
  • Cristine Vlcek (PhD)
  • Bryden Bukich (co-advised MA)

Dr. Leisha Strachan

Areas of focus

  • Positive youth development
  • Sport psychology
  • Coaching
  • Parents
  • Youth sport

More about Dr. Strachan

Graduate students

  • Craig Hillier (PhD)
  • Jeremy Layco (MA)
  • Naheel Brown Legister (PhD)
  • Jason Mergler (PhD)
  • Estefania Garcia Reyes (MA)

 

Project SCORE

Project SCORE evaluates online resources for coaches and their impact on coaching practices, youth development and parents.

Dr. Russell Field

Areas of focus

  • Lived experience of sport participants
  • Canadian sport history
  • People’s history/history from below
  • Sport, social justice and sites of resistance and protest
  • Sport, social inequality and international development
  • Sport, film and society

More about Dr. Field

Graduate students

  • Colleen Moyer (PhD)
  • Brent Poplawski (PhD)

Dr. Sarah Teetzel

Areas of focus

  • Sport ethics
  • Olympic studies
  • Doping and drug testing in sport
  • Gender in sport
  • Physical literacy 

More about Dr. Teetzel

Graduate students

  • Tiana Cowper (MA)
  • Mouzhan Pazhouhan (MA)

Impacts of Racism on Community Sport Dropout and Retention

Impacts of Racism on Community Sport Dropout and Retention: An Intersectional Analysis of Girls’ Experiences of Racism and Knowledge of Mechanisms to Support Abuse-Free Sport explores how experiences of racism influence girls’ participation and dropout in community sport programs.

Diversification for an Active Life? The Role of Multi-Sport Participation in Physical Literacy and Sport Attrition

The Diversification for an Active Life? project looks at the impact of quality sport experiences in youth on lifetime physical literacy and sport participation, using surveys and life history interviews. 

Publications

2025

Vella, S., Pierce, S., Camiré, M., Newman, T., MacDonald, D. J., Milisted, M., Strachan, L., & Santos, F. (2025). What is quality youth sport programming? A Delphi study of international scholar perspectives. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.

Turelli, F., & Joseph, J. (2025). A tale of embodied domination, queer feelings, and decolonial disruption in sport. Women's Studies International Forum, 110. 

Turelli, F., Vaz, A. F., & Kirk, D. (2025). Power dynamics in gendered sports karate: Inclusivity and Hierarchies. In: Jennings, G., Piedra de la Cuadra, J., & Rodríguez Sánchez, A. R. (Orgs.) Martial Arts in Latin Societies. Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society.

johnson, j. & J.W. Chin. (Ed.). (2025). Cultures of Sport Hazing and Anti-Hazing Initiatives for the 21st Century. Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 23, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds.

Ali, A. E., johnson, j. & M. I Ross. (2025). "Criminals” and “Killjoys”: An exploratory news media mapping of the environment-security politics at the Olympics International Journal of Sport Communication. Politics, Sport, and Communication – A Global Review. 18(3).

Laidlaw, J. & j. johnson. (2025). From ‘pool noodle tag’ to building snow forts: Experiential education as pedagogical job crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Experiential Education. 1-24.

johnson, j., Gudmundson, G., Chin, J., & M. Holman. (2025). #Rookie Party: The intersections of social media, hazing, and Canadian varsity sport. Journal of Athlete Development and Experience, 7(1), Article 1.

2024

Bishop, E., Camiré, M., & Strachan, L. (2024). Normative versus transformative coaching approaches: Profiling the social justice activism and allyship of Canadian high school sport coaches. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.

Fernandes, J., Brown, C., Keith, N., Miller, P., Moghadam, S., Strachan, L., Sturridge, S., & Olusoga, P. (2024). Simple rules for creating and sustaining an anti-racist sport and exercise organization. Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.