Developing a model of social development through educational sport

The present study was designed and conducted to investigate the role of professional sports development on social development indicators in Iran. The present study is one of the mixed researches that was done qualitatively and quantitatively. The statistical population consisted of elites and experts in the field of social and sports and were familiar with the subject of the research. Based on purposive sampling method, 13 people were identified as participants in the qualitative part of the research. Also, based on the selection of the census, all these individuals were examined as a sample of research in the quantitative section. Data collection tools in the present study included an interview and a researcher-made questionnaire. In order to analyze the data of the present study, coding was used in the qualitative part and structural equation method was used in the quantitative part. The whole process of analyzing the present research data was performed in SPSS software version 20 and PBS version 2. In the qualitative stage, 42 characteristics were extracted through interviews, which were classified into 7 general indicators of social development, including justice, social capital, social vitality, social welfare, social development ethics, social security and social health. The results showed that educational Sport has a significant effect on social development (impact = 0.787, significance level = 0.001).