Research Assistant - Sports Fandom and Athlete Retirement Project

The current opportunity is available for current Manchester Met students. To apply you must be based in the UK for the duration of the role. The main purpose of this role is to provide research support to Dr Leah Gillooly on a BA/Leverhulme Small Grants funded project entitled "What do we do when our favourite retires? Identity threats in athlete fandom." Your role will involve assisting, and where necessary taking the lead, with research data collection on this project., Hours breakdown (Duties include):

• Induction - 2 hours
• Planning for online data collection - 2 hours
• Collection of online data and associated data cleaning - 20 hours
• Coordination of interviewee recruitment - 4 hours
• Carrying out interviews, including preparation, actual interview time and preparing data files for transcription - 50 hours (2 hours per interview)
Key Tasks Research Activities Leading the data collection Identify threads on Reddit related to golfers and tennis players who have retired within the previous three years. It is envisaged that this process will take 2 hours to complete. Cleaning of dataset scraped from Reddit, including anonymisation and formatting to facilitate data analysis. It is envisaged that this process will take 20 hours, including time spent with the Project Lead discussing the requirements of the task and working through an initial sample as a training exercise. Coordinate recruitment of interviewees, using responses from Prolific screening surveys. It is anticipated that this will take up to 4 hours. Carry out 25 in-depth interviews, using Microsoft Teams. We anticipate this will take 50 hours (1.5 hours per interview, with 15 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes post interview for downloading the recording and sending it for transcription). Miscellaneous You have a legal duty, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that you do not endanger yourself or anyone else by your acts or omissions. In addition, you must cooperate with the University on health and safety matters and must not interfere or misuse anything provided for health, safety and welfare purposes. You are responsible for applying the University's Equal Opportunities Policy in your own area of responsibility and in your general conduct. You have a responsibility to promote high levels of customer care within your own areas of work. Such other relevant duties commensurate with the grade of the post as may be assigned by the Manager in agreement with you. Such agreement should not be unreasonably withheld. You have the responsibility to engage with the University's commitment to Environmental Sustainability in order to reduce its waste, energy consumption and carbon footprint. You have the responsibility to engage with the University's commitment to delivering value for money services that optimise the use of resources and therefore should consider this when undertaking all duties and aspects of your role.

This role is only open to current Manchester Met students who meet the criteria below: Essential
• Studying for a PhD in the social sciences or humanities (preferably with a focus on sport and/or consumption)
• Experience in carrying out qualitative research, particularly the use of in-depth interviews
• Broad knowledge and understanding of the UK and international sports landscape
• Proficiency in accessing and searching Reddit threads
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Excel to present textual data
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Teams
• Ability to communicate effectively in written and spoken English
• Ability to work within and/or outside of usual business hours to accommodate interviews with international participants
Desirable
• Knowledge of tennis and golf, particularly current and recently retired players
• Previous experience working on projects as part of a research team
  
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