Methodology
Having outlined the theory surrounding feminism in different sports and media contexts, a
methodological approach will be discussed to investigate this matter in the case of Dutch professional
female athletes. This methodological approach will be focused on platform-sensitive affordances and
how agency is communicated through the specificities of Instagram and its user interaction. The
methodology section of the thesis will focus on the research methods employed to answer the research
questions outlined in the previous sections.
Research Questions and Methodology
To be able to investigate the research topic, it is vital to understand the research questions that
were posed at the beginning in terms of a methodological approach.
The main research question that is to be investigated is: what feminist characteristics can be
attributed to self-presentation by Dutch professional female athletes on Instagram? To explore this
question, a mix of understanding literature and theoretical background on feminist influence in sports,
as well as an analysis of data sampled from Instagram could help indicate the intricacies of how Dutch
professional female athletes pose themselves towards a broader audience using a feminist lens. The two
sub-questions following the main research question allow the research method to delve deeper into
these intricacies.
The first sub question is the following: How do Instagram’s platform specific features help the
propagation of feminism within the athlete’s Instagram accounts? To be able to answer this subquestion, a large part of the methodology will be based on collecting platform specific data. This entails
that the data also should reflect the use of Instagram’s affordances by the sample pool.
The second sub question is as follows: What topics do Dutch female athletes present in their
behavior on Instagram? This question will be answered by observing the manner in which the platform
specific features are used by the selected case sample. Thus, it will be a deeper inspection of what
content they provide and what topics emerge through the analysis of this content.
Methodological approach
When studying the implications that platform features have on the performance of users and
thus ultimately the proliferation of feminist perspectives on social media, the question of human
denotation of the offered possibilities by the platform becomes relevant. As Bucher and Helmond
(2016) suggest, an affordance is balanced between the material qualities of the medium and human
agency. An affordance centered approach will therefore help develop the understanding of how
Instagram provides a framework through which Dutch female athletes can proliferate their agency.
Considering the multiple ways in which affordances function in different environments, to
understand the roles they have within a platform, as is relevant in this research, a platform sensitive
approach to affordances is relevant. Bucher and Helmond (2016) develop this in their research, arguing
for an inclusive take on affordances within a platform’s environment. Though platform-specificity is
vital to how the affordance is perceived (for example, the like button on Facebook may be different
than the like button on Instagram), the value of the user’s agency in their interaction with the affordances
gives the complete picture of what meaning and use is afforded to the features.
Within this approach, platform-specificity does not only refer to how one feature may have
different agency from one platform to another, but rather also touches upon how the features function
on multiple layers of interpretation (Bucher & Helmond, 2016). The elements that Bucher and Helmond
(2016) touch on to point out these layers, are derived from the versatile definitions and perspectives
that surround affordance studies. Where
Medium is the method
Sample
Within this research project the aim is to study a specific population in the world, Dutch
professional female athletes. Although the scope of this project could be applied on a global scale, this
would require the sample to also be globally oriented to account for cultural differences that arise
throughout the world. For the feasibility of this project and the time constraints, the focus is therefore
on one country, the Netherlands. This country is chosen due to the previous knowledge on the sports
industry and media environment. Having narrowed down the geographic area, there are still many
relevant Dutch female athletes that can be observed and where data can be collected from. To make the
sample feasible, a selection of 4 different athletes was chosen.
The criteria for the selection was based on a number of things. The first criteria determined that
2 of the athletes had to practice individual sports and 2 had to practice team sports. Playing a team sport
can impact the use of Instagram, as professionally the team is the entity they are a part of rather than
competing for themselves. In that case an individual’s Instagram profile could be used in a different
manner as the team is the professional face of their career.
The second criterium is associated with the popularity of the athlete on Instagram and in the
sports industry. These four athletes were chosen because of their popularity within their respective sport
and in the Netherlands. The influence of public opinion and hegemonic ideals will then be at its greatest,
thus having the most possible influence on their self-representation through their social media channels.
These athletes are also active on Instagram on a regular basis, therefore also being relevant in the
discussion for a platform specific approach.
Third, the time frame is important to take into consideration. The sports industry is cyclical,
meaning that there are more active and less active periods per sport. For example, an athletics
competition is mainly held in summer as the events are often outside. To be able to accurately compare
each athlete a time frame of a year is therefore considered to account for all the phases of the sports
season. Seeing the outbreak of the corona virus has disrupted the sports season globally, the time frame
will be dated from 1st of January 2020 back to 1st of January 2019, a period in which the virus had not
been specifically identified (Taylor, 2020). The data set will furthermore be comprised of every third
visual uploaded by the athlete within this timespan. Through this systematic sampling strategy, the data
set will remain representative and significant of the rest of the user’s profile (Rose, 2011).
The four athletes that will ultimately be considered are the following:
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Dafne Schippers: athletics, 269.000 followers
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Jutta Leerdam: speed skating, 401.000 followers
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Lieke Martens: football, 1.200.000 followers
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Eva de Goede: field hockey, 56.8000 followers
These athletes were chosen in particular because of their relevance and success in the sports
world as well as their online presence. When the query “Dutch female athlete” is entered into google,
the first images to be returned are all Dafne Schippers, suggesting her globally recognized status as a
successful Dutch athlete. Jutta Leerdam on the other hand, has gained traction within the sports world
through her physique. In 2019 she was named the most beautiful female athlete by the Dutch edition of
FHM magazine (FHM, 2019). Lieke Martens, similarly to Dafne Schippers, has gained much standing
in the football world. This is mainly because of her team’s success in the 2017 European Championships
and the 2019 World Championships for women’s football. She was named both the UEFA’s and the
FIFA’s women’s player of the year in 2017 (FIFA.com, 2017). Finally, Eva de Goede was selected
because of her reach on social media. Many of the successful Dutch athletes with a following on social
media are part of “Influencers of Sports” agency. Under the athletes for hockey, the most popular field
hockey player who is still active in the Dutch Olympic team is Eva de Goede (Influencers of Sports,
n.d.).
Important to note is the reason that these sports were chosen. Looking at the most successful
sports in the Netherlands was the starting point of narrowing down the options of what sports to include.
Counting the
Data Collection
To collect the data in the form of the visuals that they post and other congruent information
from the accounts described above, the Instagram scraper tool “4CAT” developed by the Digital
Methods Initiative will be used. The scraper is able to quickly collect all the content necessary for the
research project. However, in the places that the tool is limited (such as the analysis of the biography
page) manual data extraction will be done by screenshotting the pages needed from a mobile phone.
Instagram affordance research method
To observe the impact on the platform’s workings on the performance of feminism, affordances
of Instagram have to be observed and mapped. The user’s agency thrives on the structure that Instagram
affords them. Following the “medium is the method” approach for observing platform interventions in
cultural settings, the walkthrough method stipulated by Light, Burgess and Duguay (2016) allows an
examination of the technological infrastructure of the application while also considering the production
of cultural meaning which happens through the infrastructure. By observing this infrastructure and the
application’s affordances through which the athletes in question practice their self-presentation, integral
points of use provided by the application can help understand how certain feminist patterns can be
performed better than others.
The walkthrough method as stipulated by Light et al. (2016) stipulates that through engaging
with the platform’s interface, the “environment of expected use” can be observed both from a
technical/design standpoint and the implied cultural meaning of the affordances. The walkthrough
method relies on walking through the step-by-step process of all the features of the application. Light
et al. divide this into three separate steps, registration and entry, everyday use, and suspension. Seeing
that this thesis is only interested in self-presentation of oneself through Instagram, only the second
step will be considered in the analysis, as the first and third step are not relevant to what other users
observe on the profile.
By taking screenshots of the relevant application pages and possibilities, the features
available to the athletes within the Instagram framework can be annotated and thus analysed in detail,
observing the value of the affordances’ purpose within promoting feminist practices on the athletes
Instagram pages.
Athlete’s content and self-presentation research
Within this part of the method, the aim is to observe how the sample of athletes selected interact
within the framework that Instagram provides them. This can be seen through the content they publish
within the different publishing options on Instagram. To analyze the content that the athletes post on
Instagram, a mixed methods approach is the most appropriate method of analysis. For the visuals a
content analysis allows a systematic way of analyzing media content through the use of a codebook
(Rose, 2011). By defining a codebook, comparable results across a group of people can be achieved
(Rose, 2011). In this manner, the data collected on the athlete’s behavior is standardized across the 4
cases and thus the patterns of posting practices can be observed and laid side by side to draw
conclusions. In the case of analyzing the use of captions, a thematic analysis is more appropriate as the
fluidity of the captions and their significance can be respected by doing a close reading. In the case of
the user’s biography page, a combination of both is best fitting.
There are three main variable parts of an Instagram profile that are relevant for the analysis are
the profile landing page of the user (biography page), the visual content that they post (the images and
videos), and the captions of the visual content. Each of these will be described in the codebook. Each
aspect described has a different function within the Instagram platform. These functions can combine
to broadcast a larger message or idea, but in its core, they function separately from one another (Smith
& Sanderson, 2015). For example, a visual posted on Instagram does not necessarily have to match the
caption that goes along with it. This is important to keep in mind as it dictates why there is a need to
observe these aspects on Instagram separately in the methodology. When analyzing these three parts,
the practices of the athletes will shine through and can be interpreted in terms of their feminist agency.
Gillian Rose (2011) wrote in her book Visual Methodologies that content analysis for visuals
provides a reliable and structured method of analysis. Rose (2011) points out that using a content
analysis for a visual methodology, does focus on the compositional qualities of the image which can be
observed rather than the productive qualities of the images. However, in the case of this thesis where
the goal is to observe the agency of the athletes through the visuals posted, the content analysis helps
uncover the performance of the athletes systematically. Using the visual content analysis structure
outlined by Rose (2011) and studies from the sports research field, specifically Geurin-Eagleman &
Burch (2016) and Smith & Sanderson (2015), a methodological structure can be developed as basis for
the framework of this methodology.
Visual content
From the field of sports media research, much of the research concerning athlete’s selfpresentation on social media platforms is performed on twitter. The study by Geurin-Eagleman & Burch
(2016) combines the coding schemes used in twitter-based research and combines it with coding
manuals applied to visual research, which is much more relevant for a visual based platform such as
Instagram.
Within this study, the coding manual stipulated by Geurin-Eagleman & Burch (2016) focuses
on the visual aspect of Instagram’s features. Therefore, it will form the basis of the coding of the visual
content of the athletes Instagram profiles. First of all, numerical indicators are noted. The number of
likes and comments on the visuals are indicative of the popularity of a post. Through analyzing these
numbers, a possible correlation between type of visual and popularity amongst the audience can be
found. In turn this helps understand where the athletes are emphasizing their self-presentation and if
traces of feminist characteristics can be found in their Instagram practices.
Looking at the visuals themselves, Geurin-Eagleman & Burch (2016) fail to include the
possibility of there being more types of visuals than photographs. On Instagram you can also publish
videos and a collection of photographs in one post. Considering that these types of visuals also
contribute to the self-presentation of the athletes, the coding manual asks to specify what type of visual
it is before delving into the finer details of the visual.
The visuals themselves are further explored through the use of the coding scheme stipulated
below. If a video or collection of images is used, the most prominent theme must be categorized.
Concerning the type of content in the visual, this is indicative of how the athlete uses the main function
of Instagram (posting visuals) in their self-presentation. The self-presentation is closely related to the
agency of the user, the purpose of the practice of self-representation can uncover agency within a certain
media perspective, for example a feministic one. Considering the relevant feministic approaches
outlined in the theoretical framework, the coding of the visuals can indicate if and where in the spectrum
of feminism the visuals contribute. For example, if the type of content for example is related to business,
it could be argued that a neoliberal feminist agency is at play, as the entrepreneurial efforts of the women
lead to ae elevates degree of independence and power within the sports industry and media.
Type of visual
1. Photograph
2. Video
3. Photograph collection
Type of content in visual
1. Personal sports

Refers to their professional sports career (including but not limited to competitions,
games, wins, the team)
2. Personal life

Refers to personal lives (including but not limited to daily routine, family, or friends,
vacations, personal events, pets)
3. Business

Refers to their business opportunities outside of sports (including but not limited to
promoting, sponsorships, other entrepreneurial efforts, photo shoot)
4. Other sport related content

Refers to other sports or sport related content that is not their own (including but not
limited to praising other athletes, different coaches, visuals of other sports)
5. Repost

Refers to reusing someone else’s content on Instagram (including but not limited to
posts of fans, organizations, other institutions)
6. Other

Refers to content which does not fall in the above categories (including but not
limited to visuals referencing to mainstream culture, memes, landscapes)
Additional Instagram features used
As observed in the walkthrough, there are certain elements specific to Instagram that can
highlight and emphasize the visuals that are posted. Seeing that these features can hold value in
adding onto the feminist agency of the practices of athletes on Instagram, the use of these should also
be noted. This can be coded according to the coding scheme below.
Tagging: refers to whether there are additional accounts tagged within the visual
1. Yes
2. No
If yes to previous question what are the nature of the tagged account(s)
1. Personal Instagram profile of another user
2. Company Instagram profile
3. Sports institute Instagram profile
4. Other Instagram profile
Paid Partnership reference: refers to the announcement of a commercial venture on Instagram
between the athlete and a commercial company
1. Yes
2. No
If yes to previous question what are the nature of the company in question
1. Sports institute
2. Commercial company (profit seeking)
3. Non-profit organization
4. Other
Captions
As mentioned earlier, the content on the separate features within Instagram do not necessarily
have to always be related to one another (although this is often the case). Therefore, the coding of the
captions that are under the visuals has to be done separately. In the case of the captions, the variability
of the text requires a method of analysis that is more flexible than a content analysis. By using a thematic
analysis method, the content of the captions can be analyzed effectively. Using Smith & Sanderson’s
(2015) method for exploring captions, first of all a close reading of the captions is done. Consequently,
the captions are labeled according to themes emerging during a second reading. Once these themes are
noted, the themes can be nestled under larger umbrella categories though which patterns in the captions
can be observed. The captions’ thematic analysis results are annotated alongside the coding scheme
results. In this manner, in the combination of the visuals and captions, feministic agency can be further
identified. For example, third wave feminism can be seen through the possible juxtaposition of a visual
focused on a vacation but a caption indicating a personal sports achievement, indicating the messy
multiplicity mentioned earlier.
Biography Page
The biography page is the landing page of a user’s profile. It consists of a few key elements,
some of which are more variable than others. For this reason, the best method to investigate this
Instagram feature is a combination of a content and thematic analysis. The more rigid elements such as
the profile picture, the presence of a URL and story highlights are easily explored through a short
content analysis, whereas the biographical information they provide functions more like a caption and
is thus better investigated through a thematic analysis.
The content analysis for the profile picture can follow the same coding manual as stipulated
above as it is also a visual with the same theoretical implications. After an initial observation of the
profiles used in the sample, for the URL the following coding scheme is best applied:
URL Present
1. Yes
2. No
If yes to previous question what is the nature of the URL
1. Personal

Refers to a URL that links to a webpage with personal information
2. Business

Refers to a URL that is relevant in a business context
3. Other social media

Refers to a URL that links to another social media platform
4. Other

Any other URL types
The feature that Instagram provides to save one’s stories is also a prominent feature on the
biography page if it is used. Stories can be categorized and saved so that other users can access them
and re-watch them after their 24 hours expires in the main Instagram stories feature. The categories in
which the stories are saved are up to the discretion of the athlete, thus allowing for the possibility of
self-presentation in a specific light. Seeing as the feature is relatively static, below another part of the
code book will be devised to analyze this
Are there Instagram story highlights present?
1.
Yes
2.
No
If yes to question 1, what categories are present?
1. Sports related
2. Personal interests
3. Business ventures
4. Other
If yes to question 1, what type of visuals are used as key visuals?
1. Photographs
2. Clip art visuals
For the written biography, as mentioned earlier, a thematic analysis such as the one used for the captions
is the most appropriate, as it enables the flexibility of the writing to be taken into consideration.
Ethical Considerations
Though online, the nature of the social media research, as done in this thesis, is still research
with human users. Therefore, it is vital to carefully consider the ramifications of publicizing this
research and the ethics that come into play. As pointed out by Kelsey Beninger in her article on social
media research ethics, the most important ethical considerations are consent and maintaining
confidentiality (Sloan, 2017). The athletes in question are public figures whose user profiles on
Instagram are open to the public. As the information accessed is already accessible, the argument for
consent of the use of information becomes more complicated. On the one hand is the argument that the
public nature of the information is enough to warrant the bypassing of request of consent, whereas
another argument suggests that consent should always be achieved regardless of the degree of exposure.
In the case of this thesis, the athletes in question are public figures in society, not merely an
Instagram user who has an open profile. Their degree of public standing within the Instagram public
sphere can also be seen by their “verified” status. This is only given to well-known, highly searched
people, brands or entities (Instagram Help Center, n.d.). Therefore, one can argue that because in these
cases the degree of public exposure is already extremely high, obtaining consent is not necessary.
However, other user’s profiles that are not directly scrutinized in this thesis must be protected.
This can be achieved by anonymizing the names of the users. When scrapping the data from 4CAT the
option to anonymize usernames was clicked and anonymized the data for us. However, when doing the
walkthrough method screenshots are taken to analyze the user interface structure. These screenshots
will therefore not be included in the appendix to ensure that the users appearing in them stay
anonymous.
Limitations
References
Geurin-Eagleman, A., & Burch, L. M. (2016). Communicating via photographs: A gendered
analysis of olympic athletes’ visual self-presentation on instagram. Sport
Management Review, 19(2), 133-145. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2015.03.002
Smith, L. R., & Sanderson, J. (2015). I'm going to instagram it! an analysis of athlete selfpresentation on instagram. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(2), 342358. doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1029125
Taylor, D. (2020, May 12,). How the coronavirus pandemic unfolded: A timeline. New York
Times Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html
https://fhm.nl/sportvrouwen-fhm500/
https://www.fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards/news/cristiano-ronaldo-and-liekemartens-cap-dream-season-at-the-best-fifa--2916955
https://influencersofsports.com/influencers/#/category/hockey
https://about.instagram.com/features/stories
https://help.instagram.com/854227311295302
Rose, G. (2011). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. sage.
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Hashtags
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Promotional efforts
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Story highlights
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Tagging in images