Comparison of the content of web sites of higher education institutions providing for sports management education : The case of Turkish and English universities

Considering various themes, this study aims to examine the content of web sites of universities that provide sports management education in higher education level in Turkey and in England. Within this framework, the websites of the higher education institutions that provide sports management education are analyzed by using the content analysis (categorical) method which is common in qualitative studies. Findings of the study reveal the inadequacy of visual and verbal internet materials in the websites of Turkish Universities. Additionally, while all the themes put forward in Aligning a European Higher Education Structure in Sport Science (AEHESIS), alignment program are present in English Universities, there are some inadequacies in the websites of Turkish Universities.


INTRODUCTION
Today, sports have become an essential part of social, political, cultural and economic part of people"s lifes (Marjoribanks and Farquharson, 2012).Sports, as a phenomenon directly influence the social lives of individuals, and have become an essential part of people"s lives not only in the developed societies but all around the world.Thus, physical activity appears as a cultural practice that has multiple meanings in fitness and sports, and plays critical roles about the evolution of social life (Caplan, 2014).
The aims of physical activity and sports, two of the most important education devices in countries, are to help the society have healthy generations by supporting the physical, social, psychological, cultural, and mental development of the people, and to become a propaganda and advertisement device that can publicize the culture of the society because sports have gained an international aspect.Deep establishment of these characteristics of sports in a country is associated with the proliferation of sports in that country (Sunay, 2002).At the same time, it is also acknowledged that there is a considerable parallelism between the conscious proliferation of sports and people doing sports following the contemporary ways, and development (Aydın et al., 2007).Shortly, sports and sports consciousness is an important indicator of the developmental levels of societies.
Process of globalization, which has a natural and a systematic characteristic, is progressing towards the point where it will cover all the areas of life in due time.Thus, education also falls within the areas that are affected by globalization.The roles of education systems, constituting the strategic merging of raising the competitiveness of countries, are gaining importance day by day (Karakaya and Tel, 2014).Besides, the competitive environment which is formed with globalization has brought along the necessity of raising more qualified individuals.And it is stated that the way to supply these qualifications are with education (Akdemir, 2013).
Education in sport sciences is one of the most important aspects of sports.When approached in this aspect, sports should be evaluated in two ways.These can be called education for sports, and sports for education.In education for sports, sport is the objective, and education is used in order for sports to take place.Player education, coach education, audience education, education of referees and sports managers are the subject.In this respect, education is at the service for sports, and it is an indispensable way to raise the technical, aesthetic, and performance-related levels of sports.Various disciplines such as training science and sports physiology, sports psychology, sports management and administration and sports pedagogy have an important place in education for sports.In the case of sports for education, sport is one of the devices that are used for education to reach its goals but it is possibly that is the most entertaining and the most effective one when used properly (Öztürk, 1998).
Enrichment of a society by stabilizing and providing continuity in the development of sports is through protecting educational institutions which offer sports education at higher education level.A poorly developed sports education system constitutes an impediment to create human resources which is important to sports industry (Karakaya and Çoban, 2014).Accordingly, it can be stated that developing a sports consciousness, extending the participation in sports, and training qualified sports trainers/managers are related with sports education and sports education systems.When the European countries are examined, it can be observed that education programs that train sports managers are generally provided by higher educational institutions (Ziyagil and Sevimli, 2013;Karakaya, 2012).Higher education covers all the educational institutions that provide at least two years of higher education based on secondary education, and that train the highest level of human force and the research personnel that scientific research areas require (Fullbright, 2015).
One of the important education activities in the area of Sport Sciences in higher education is the alignment project named Aligning a European Higher Education Structure in Sport Science (AEHESIS).Within the scope of the project, experts of sports training from 28 countries and 70 institutions have attempted to determine common standards for the development of new education programs.In this project, constituted to align the European Higher Education, four areas are defined which are related with sports.These areas are Sport Management, Physical Education, Health and Fitness, and Sport Coaching (AEHESIS, 2006).The reflections and operation of this alignment program today seem to be worth studying.In this context, the themes under Sport Management in AEHESIS program and the content of these themes in the internet sites of the universities constitute the basis of the study.
Education and educational programs are shaped according to the dominant paradigm of the time and construct their own system accordingly.In each country, educational systems in different areas define both the future of the area and the future of the country (Akınoğlu, 2005).Thus, in terms of sports management education, skills that are listed in the education program showing parallelism between the skills that have importance in the developed countries and the skills that education applications try to implement is important to the relevant field.
It can be assumed that the population structure of England, the number of registered players and the data related to the individuals in terms of the proportion of the population, which are compared within in the scope of research, show some similarities (Yüce and Sunay, 2013).However, England's hosting sports events such as the Olympic games, achievements in sports, sports education at higher education level and institutionalization of sports management differ from Turkey.At this point, it can be argued that comparison of England and Turkey can provide guidance specific to the case of Europe.
The increase of worldwide internet usage has caused the reshaping of traditional modes of communication.Also due to extensive usage of information technology and internet, importance given to web sites has increased for both government agency and private firm.Web sites have some advantages such as increasing the use of internet among students, convenience of updating websites, economic and 7/24 accessibility for all around the world.These advantages were provided to reach all target market on exterritorial of universities.So, marketing side of universities was increased (Akkan and Bozyigit, 2014).On the other hand, Internet sites help individuals to have opinions in situations when they do not have any.It can be argued that internet plays a considerably important role in the decision-making processes of individuals (Henning and Walsh, 2003).Also, Ford (2011) has stated that the most important qualification of a university web site is 97% in content.Therefore, it is supposed that the internet sites of universities and the information on these internet sites are important.It is assumed that this study will contribute to the usage of mass media tools, especially internet, in terms of raising awareness regarding sports management education.In this regard, it can be stated that this study has multidisciplinary characteristics.In the light of all these, the aim of this study is to examine the content of web sites of universities that provide sports management education in higher education level in Turkey and in England considering various themes by content analysis method.

METHODOLOGY
The matter at hand in this study is the comparison of the contents in the web sites of universities in Turkey and in England in 2015 to 2016 academic years.The research took place between 1 December, 2015 and 25 January, 2016.In the analysis of data, "content analysis" method was used.This is a widely used qualitative research technique.Although content analysis has its roots in communication, content analysis has been used, and is being used in many disciplines, including political science, anthropology, psychology, management and information studies (White and Marsh, 2006).Content analysis is one of the most important research techniques in the social sciences, especially in communication texts.It is basically described as the analysis of written contents of a communication (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006).Krippendorff (2013) defined content analysis as: "… a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use".
It is a method used to reduce many words of text into fewer content categories with particular focus based on explicit rules of coding (Krippendorff, 2004;Weber, 1985).Berelson (1952) defined content analysis as a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.Roberts (1997) has stated that content analysis is used in studies such as language development, research, education program evaluations and situation analysis.Also Robertss (1997) asserts that: "Whereas text analyses are only of texts or transcripts, content analyses can be performed on any symbolic material, be it visual, acoustic, tactile or whatever".

Population and sample
The population of the study consists of the institutions that provide sports management training in higher education in Turkey and in England, and their internet sites.In the scope of sampling, on the first step judgmental (purposive), sampling was used while determining the universities.Judgmental sampling is the researcher"s forming of a frame with groups that the researcher thinks to have the representative quality by using his/her own particular knowledge and judgment such as his/her idea or experience (Babbie, 2013).Gerstenfeld et al. (2011) states that judgmental sampling method is appropriate for content analysis of websites.
Rankings for the universities target students and their families, higher education institutions, governments, fund organizations and various similar shareholder groups (Aydın, 2011).Accordingly, while determining the universities to be examined in England, ranking of The Complete University Guide ( 2015) was used as it can be acknowledged as a reliable reference/guide, and while determining the universities to be compared in Turkey, ranking of URAP 2015 to 2016 (University Ranking of Academic Performance) is used.After judgmental sampling, the sampling of the study consists of 20 universities selected by simple random sampling method among the first 50 universities in the rankings of The Complete University Guide (2015) and URAP (2015 to 2016).According to this, the examined universities and the rankings within the scope of the study are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Analysis of data
Websites of 20 universities, which have been obtained as data source, have been analyzed with content analysis method.Also frequency and percentage data analysis techniques have been used to analyze the data.Contexts of these web sites were divided among 3 coders.The coders were trained by researchers, following the guidelines recommended by Kolpe and Burnett (1991).Three PhD students as coders coded the entire sample.A coding scheme and themes were developed, and the coders coded the surveys with this scheme (Table 3).Before coding, four training sessions were conducted; the coders practiced coding and contributed to the coding surveys.Besides, reliability of the survey was calculated with Krippendorff"s alpha reliability coefficient () (Krippendorff, 2004b).Krippendorff"s alpha () is a reliability coefficient developed to measure the agreement among observers, coders, judges, raters, or measuring instruments drawing distinctions among typically unstructured phenomena or assign computable values to them (Krippendorff, 2011).
The reliability index for information categories was 0.98 on average, with a range from 0.67 to 1.00.When observers agree perfectly () = 1, which indicates perfect reliability (Krippendorff, 2011).The conducted research indicates that the most important error source is not the reviewers but the categories itself.It is remarked that the cases in which the categories are clearly defined  (Holsti, 1968).The categories in this study consisted of the codes in the predetermined control list which was prepared by the researcher.In the content analysis method, categories developed in this way are called a priori generated categories (Stemler, 2001) or categories generated with deductive method.Hence, when categories are generated and the internet sites of the universities are examined, AEHESIS"s "Six Step Model", which was developed in 2006, was used as the basis.
It is stated that the model which correlates the European instructions about higher education and the framework laws converge the social needs related with employment and academic education programs.In this context, the coding table for the examination of internet sites is shown in Table 3. AEHESIS themes for the statements in Table 3 are defined as follows: 1. Standard occupations: Occupation definitions with general sentences.
2. Professional area: Definitions for area of profession.
3. Activities: Activity areas for jobs.

Competencies:
Competencies for activities and jobs.

Learning outcomes:
Learning outcomes of the students as part of the competencies predicted for the job.

Education program:
Contents prepared for the occupation and trainings.
Other themes for the statements in the

FINDINGS
Information on the English Universities in the sampling of the study is presented in Table 4.As it is seen, there is no introductory brochure in the seven English Universities, and there is no introductory video in five of them.About the student opinions, in only one of the web sites of the universities, the content is not present.In all the web sites of the universities, there are contents according to AEHESIS themes.In Table 5, there is information on the Turkish Universities in the sampling of the study.As it is seen, none of the websites of Turkish Universities allowed student opinions.Additionally, introductory brochure and introductory video are only present in only one of the websites of the universities.Qualifications for entering the program appeared only in four of the websites of the universities.In all the examined websites of the universities, scarcity of AEHESIS themes can be observed.
In Table 6, there is distribution of the Turkish and England Universities in the sampling of the study.As it is seen, all of websites of English Universities allowed standard occupations, professional area, competencies, learning outcomes, education program and qualifications to enter program.Also all the Websites of Turkish Universities have less present percentage

DISCUSSION
Both in England and in Turkey, sports management programs have a place in higher education system like the other countries of Europe.In both countries, higher education is divided as associate degree, bachelor"s degree, master"s degree, and PhD (Fullbright, 2015;Karakütük et al., 2009:107;Küçükcan, 2009:80;Tunç, 2004).In Sport Sciences, AEHESIS Thematic Web Project as an European Higher Education alignment project determined 6 basic themes in its final report in 2007, and asked the European Universities to adapt themselves based on these themes.
According to the titles analyzed in the research, while all of the sample universities in England (100%) include "Standard Occupation" and "Professional Area" on their websites, this rate has been stated as 80% on the university websites in Turkey.While 90% of the universities in England have content for "Activities", this rate has been stated as 60% on the university websites in Turkey.It can be argued that "Standard Occupation", "Professional Area" and "Activities" are considered as elements that help individuals have opinion about their future career, gain their professional identity and plan their carriers (Slay and Smith, 2011).Hence, it is important for universities to have those kinds of information on their websites.When the rates are analyzed, it can be said that universities in Turkey need to add "Activities" on their websites.While contents related to "Competencies" and "Learning Outcomes" are on all university websites in England (100%), in Turkey this rate for "Competencies" is 50% and for "Learning Outcomes" is 40%.It can be argued that "Competencies" and "Learning Outcomes" are closely related to the individuals' gaining professional identity and being successful in their carriers (Hall et.al, 2002).While the theme of "Education Program" is on all university websites in England (100%), this rate is 70% in Turkey.It can be said that one of the most important elements of education process is the applied programs.In the field of sports management, education programs should lead the students in terms of learning skills that will help them succeed in their carriers during and after their education.In the target area, an education program should foresee the skills that an individual must obtain in short and long terms, and should be able to offer possible ways to obtain those skills.In this sense, it is possible for education programs to be updated or changed according to the new developments in scientific field or the needs that might occur over the time (Güzel and Karadağ, 2013).Also, describing these programs in detail on the websites is important in terms of individuals' decision making process, and for different companies' making comparison about the programs.While "Qualifications to Enter Program" is on all university websites in England (100%), in Turkey this rate is 40%.Knowing the qualifications to enter the program can help candidates make decisions.
Choosing the right program and school according to their level and qualifications can be considered as an important elements that affect students' education.However, it has been observed that university websites in Turkey do not have enough information about qualifications.In this sense, the theme of qualification to enter the program can be proposed to take place more on the university websites in Turkey.With the development of the internet, themes such as Introductory Brochure (Edocuments) and Introductory Video can be considered as important elements on an introductory basis.It has been found out that E-document rate on the university websites is 30% in England and 10% in Turkey; Introductory Video rate is 50% in England and 10% in Turkey.The biggest difference has been detected on the theme "Student Opinions".While 90% of the university websites in England include the theme, none of the universities in Turkey have "Student Opinions" on their websites.
In the communication age of this present day, comments and information about the products and services on the internet sites can influence the attitude and behaviors towards these products and services (Gülmez, 2011).
Especially comments about the services such as health, law, consulting, and education might play an effective role in shaping the behaviors of the individuals (Baysal, 2006).
Because of the dynamic change in information communication technologies, frequent update of the content of education services and materials is required (Chen, 2006).In this sense, visual and verbal web contents of universities about their education programs have become quite important.Hence, it can be stated that providing more information about Turkish universities' education programs by using verbal and visual contents would be beneficial for potential students.Also, these visual changes might help the students and their families build awareness towards the universities.
This situation, which can be analyzed with hierarchy of effects model (Strong, 1925;Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) will lead to the enrichment of the university websites, thus enable the area of interest to be more effective, and also include the process starting from building awareness towards the related university or the program until the occurrence of the behavior.
As a result, there are deficiencies relating to each theme on Turkish universities' websites.At this point, it can be expressed that Turkish universities need to update their websites in accordance with those themes.

Table 1 .
The universities examined in England as part of the sampling.

Table 2 .
The Universities examined in Turkey as part of the sampling.

Table 3 .
Coding table that is used for the examined Internet sites.
effects positively as much as trained reviewers

Table 6 .
Distribution of England and Turkish universities web sites regarding research themes.