Mapping the socio-cultural dimensions of women's artistic gymnastics: A research tree approach

Abstract

A challenge for many universities and research organisations is how to map and connect the research undertaken in any particular field. This presentation discusses the creation and implementation of a research tree designed to encapsulate international cross-disciplinary research undertaken in women’s artistic gymnastics. The process involved the scoping of journal articles, the identification of common themes, the creation of an initial research tree and then finalisation through discussions with the researchers. The tree united diverse researchers under one umbrella and created consensus about the broad brushstrokes of their common research field. It harmonized different researchers’ view of a complex topic and through a 2016 conference it also created a cross-disciplinary understanding among researchers for other researchers’ contributions. A key learning was that the encapsulation process can succeed if 1) a motivated researcher collaborates with the university innovation support 2) there is a clear goal for the usage of the tree already from the start.