Through extracting accurate formalized versions of the subject's actions, motive, and experiences to describe and explain their retirement phenomenon, this study attempted to capture the substance and nuance of the opinions of women athletes now retired who competed in the Olympic canoeing discipline of sprint racing as members of the Canadian National Canoe Team between 1984 to 1998. Whether smooth or problematic, retirement necessitates a degree of adjustment which is thought to be dependent on the individual's perception of retirement itself. In this regard, the qualitative methodology, borrowing from phenomenology and free from predetermined theories, concentrated on the subject-experience and assumed the importance of understanding the retirement experience, as it is known to, and in the words of the women who lived the experience. In addition, the choice of focusing on only one National Team permitted a fuller contextualization of the retirement phenomenon within a specific sport environment. A short demographic questionnaire was initially given to the study participants to ascertain basic information. This was followed by an open-ended in-depth interview, using a semi-structured format, to obtain information pertaining to the specific reasons and circumstances affecting their retirement, as well as the manner in which they reacted to, and deal with their retirement from the National Canoe Team. Data collection and analysis were undertaken simultaneously which ensured a systematic effort to verify and refine existing themes. Data were submitted to a systematic process which enabled the reduction of the vast quantity of data into manageable segments. Coding of the data served to separate, compile, and organize the data, while comparing the events, experiences, actions, and interactions for similarities and differences. Through content analysis, both inference and interpretation were used to give meaning to the transcripts. The end result was the emergence of themes from the data, each theme internally consistent but distinct and separate from all other themes identified. The inductive examination of the relationships present within and among the identified themes allowed for developing interpretations and explanations of the phenomenon under study. In an effort to capture and understand the essence of the retirement experience, a schematic representation was drawn which encapsulates the major patterns found in the women's narratives regarding their retirement experiences. The patterns are located on a continuum which reflects the inter-relationships of the experiences and reactions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/9426 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | McGown, Elizabeth. |
| Contributors | Rail, G., |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 266 p. |
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