Les méthodes mixtes de recherche pour l’analyse de l’activité et de l’expérience en Éducation physique et en Sport

• Vors Olivier
• David Adé
• Gal-Petitfaux Nathalie
• Joing Isabelle
• Andrieu Bernard

In current STAPS research, researchers are increasingly resorting to mixed methods research (MMR) to study the same phenomenon, linking data, methods, and theories (Vors and Bourcier 2022). The purpose of this editorial is to question, from an epistemological and methodological point of view, the conception and uses by researchers of MMR for the analysis of activity and experience in physical education (PE) and sport, in order to discuss its heuristic potential. Scientific positions on MMR and its uses are highly heterogeneous, ranging from the linking of qualitative and quantitative data supported by the same theoretical framework, to the analysis of heterogeneous data from distinct scientific approaches (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie 2004). This heterogeneity is an invitation to question, in particular, the statutory balance between heterogeneous data, or the paradigmatic coherence between the theoretical frameworks mobilized (e.g., Creswell 2011). MMR is used to investigate numerous fields, such as PE teaching, sports training, adapted physical activity, recreational sports, or sporting expertise (Camerino et al. 2014). In particular, work concerning the analysis of activity or experience defends the fruitfulness of mixing heterogeneous data (Adé et al. 2020). However, given the diversity of fields, data, methods, and theories, epistemological questioning seems essential to clarify the potential advantages and limitations of MMR in STAPS. This special issue provides an opportunity to take a critical and constructive look at MMR through a variety of objects and research areas from the field of intervention science, in order to envisage perspectives or specificities regarding its conception and use in STAPS