Analysing the content of sport policies: disciplinary approaches and new directions

Over time, there have been various important contributions that have advanced the application of different conceptual and theoretical approaches to analysing policy processes across the field of sport. On the other hand, there remains a significant gap in relation to appraising different approaches that may be used in analysis of the particular content of sport policies. This article addresses this gap through considering four distinctive disciplinary and conceptual approaches to analysing sport policy content: (i) specific sport-orientated analytic frameworks, such as the Sport Policy Factors Leading to International Sport Success (SPLISS) and the Physical Activity Environment Policy Index (PA-EPI); (ii) discourse analysis approaches; (iii) political science frameworks for analysing policy design; and (iv) theories from political philosophy. Fundamental characteristics of each approach will be considered through the article, derived from a critical appraisal of their differing utilisations in sport policy research to date and the potential contributions that each may make to future analyses of sport policy content. As a result, the article offers concluding recommendations for sport policy research which encompass expanding usage of different approaches where suited to analysis of specific types of sport policies and combining approaches where their synergies would enable more substantive analysis to be undertaken.