Analysis Reporting and Handling Nonresponse in Sports Marketing Articles

Given that many sports organizations can use research results, proper sampling and prevention of possible biases play an important role in the proper application of research. In this regard, it seems that the efforts of sports management researchers to accurately evaluate the methods used in research is a necessary step to increase the quality of research in the field of sports management. One of these methods is to try to increase the response rate and reduce the bias of the samples without answering the questionnaire. Sample bias without answering the questionnaire should be checked in the samples, then this bias should be reduced as much as possible in the results of the final study. Otherwise, the conclusion of the study may be distorted. In most cases, there is little knowledge about sample bias without answering the questionnaire, so it is difficult to assess their impact on the final analysis of the data. This study aimed to analyze the reporting and management Nonresponse in sport marketing management articles published in the Journal of Sport Management. The specific objectives of this research include the following: Objective 1: To study the sampling method and the method of data collection used. Objective 2: To evaluate the response rate to the questionnaire and the strategy to increase the response rate. Objective 3: Review the strategies used for unanswered management. The study population consisted of all articles published from the first issue of 2016 to the end of 2016 (N = 431) were analyzed by a coding sheet. All articles published in the field of sports marketing in sports management journals were analyzed using content analysis method, which is a systematic technique (Berger, 2000). Qualitative content analysis is appropriate when existing theories or research literature are limited to a phenomenon (hsieh & Shannon, 2005). The instrument used in this study was based on previous research (linder et al., 2001; miller & smith, 1983). Thus, the data collection tool in this study includes a coding sheet that the data were collected according to the following instructions. The validity of coding sheet was measured by ten of sport marketing and management experts specializing in the analysis of content. Using Scott test, the coefficient of agreement between coders was more than 90%. The results showed that a small number of articles published (5% of the articles) have pointed to the response rate As well as any articles Nonresponse as a threat to external validity. Not refer How to control and manage Non respons. As mentioned, samples without answering the questionnaire and their management was the main motivation for the current research. The findings show that non-questionnaire samples have not been an important issue and concern for the vast majority of authors of sports marketing articles. Of the 431 articles published that should have considered unanswered bias (given a response rate of less than 85%), none of the articles referred to bias of unanswered samples as a threat to external credibility, so pursuing management and They have not been in control of this bias either. Also, out of the total number of published articles, only 25 articles mentioned the response rate. This indicates that sports management researchers are unaware of this and are not concerned, but this (bias of samples without answering the questionnaire) may be a threat to external credibility. Therefore, if in a study the response rate to the questionnaire was less than 85%, there may be a bias of samples without answering the questionnaire, in which case this bias should be controlled. In general it can be said that researchers reporting the response rate to the questionnaire, if the response rate was less than 85% using of one of the three methods (Comparison of Early to Late Respondents, Using “Days to Respond” as a Regression Variable and Comparison of Respondents to Nonrespondents) to control and manage Non respons. If through this research we conclude that these methods are effective in controlling bias without response, then as much as possible these methods will be applied in future research of sports management to control one of the most important errors that are less considered. Finally, according to the materials and results obtained from the present study, which showed that both researchers and reviewers of sports management journals, especially in the field of sports marketing, do not pay much attention to the appropriate response rate (above 85%). Therefore, in most of the reviewed articles, they do not mention the response rate. Due to this, research that has a response rate lower than 85% is at risk of unanswered bias. As a result, researchers need to report the response rate if needed, and if the response rate is less than 85%, to implement the method to control and manage non-response bias.