Reflections and Outlook on the Research Paradigm of Chinese Sports Management

Research paradigms are the basic rules of knowledge production and accumulation within disciplines. From the aspects of scientific questions, variable, repeatability and falsifiability, verification of common sense, application of mathematical models and statistical knowledge, limitations of empirical research paradigms, this paper reflected on the research paradigm of sports management in China. Results: Whether it is based on the disciplinary orientation or the research task of the academic community, the empirical research paradigm should become the mainstream research paradigm of sports management. The diversity of Chinese local culture and the phenomenon of sports management determines that the empirical research paradigm which emphasizes the evidence chain and scientificity and the speculative research paradigm that emphasizes intuition and insight will coexist for a long time. Lacking of effective dialogue among academic achievements is a prominent problem hindering the accumulation of knowledge in sports management. Recommendations: 1) Chinese sports management research should be actively integrated into the mainstream paradigm of scientific research; 2) in order to explain and answer the topics of Chinese sports management, variety of research paradigms should be complemented with each other; 3) research on hot topics cannot replace the discipline construction of sports management; 4) researchers need to maintain awe and sincerity; 5) curiosity and interest are critical for sports management researchers to carry out scientific research.