Researching sport in a ‘Total Institution’: reflections on research barriers and methodological adaptations in a study of prison physical culture

This paper reflects on the methodological challenges faced during a qualitative research project on sport and physical culture in the Canadian federal prison system, during which the author tried and failed to gain access to observe sport programming and conduct interviews in two prisons. The paper has three principal aims. Firstly, to self-reflexively analyse the experience of failing to gain access to a research site and the subsequent methodological adaptations undertaken. Secondly, to assess the difficulties for scholars of sport and physical culture of researching in a ‘total institution’. And thirdly, to advocate for the use of bricolage in sports studies, as both a methodological tactic for researching difficult-to-access sites or subcultures and an interpretive analytical tool. This paper fills a unique void in the literature on sport research in total institutions, offering a critical and reflexive methodological examination of the barriers to qualitative research at such sites. It will be of particular interest to researchers of sport and physical culture who must find creative methodological solutions to research barriers, particularly in sites, subcultures and organisations to which access is severely restricted.