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Sports Management

This guide provides resources for sports management research

What is Credibility?

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Defining Credibility

Important Terms

Definition

Credible/Credibility

Capable of being believed; believable or plausible: a credible witness; a credible explanation. 

Authority

An accepted source of expert information or advice.  (The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language).

Authoritative

Having or arising from authority; official; Of acknowledged accuracy or excellence; highly reliable ((The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) 

Factors that impact credibility include:

  • Author: Does the author have authority in sports management? What gives them expertise?
  • Publication: Is the publication a well-established source of sports management information? 
  • Sources cited: If the resource has cited other experts in the field of sports management, then that adds to the credibility of the resource. 

It happens to the best of us...even ESPN

ESPN Reports Miami Dolphins Part Ways with Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey

In early 2021, ESPN reported that Brian Flores, head coach of the Miami Dolphins fired the team's offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey. Their source for this information came from ESPN's very own Adam Schefter. The information came from a Schefter Twitter/X account - an outlet Schefter has shared breaking news before.

Unfortunately for ESPN, the account they received the "breaking news" from was in fact a fake Schefter account. Apologies were made...

ESPN posts corrections to published dolphins story

Defining Suitability

Important Terms

Definition

Suitable

Appropriate for a particular person, situation, etc; fitting (The Penguin English Dictionary)

Factors that impact suitability include: 

  • Format of information: Different formats of information meet different information needs.
  • Peer-reviewed or publishing process: The more people who reviewed the resource before publication will mean the information is more likely to be correct.
  • Currency: When a resource was published is going to impact how suitable it is for your information need. 
  • Relevancy: The content of the source should fit with your research question. 

The Information Timeline

The information timeline is the process in which information changes over time. An event happens and the information timeline begins!

The information timeline: social media, news, magazines and blogs, scholarly and peer reviewed journal articles, and books

The format of information can make an item more or less suitable because of the process it went through to be published.