International Research on the RC/AAHPERD Program, 1965–2008

Purpose: The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) holds an annual conference where people may present completed research. Peer-reviewed abstracts of accepted research presentations have been compiled, bound, and distributed to members of the organization since 1965 either as Abstracts of Research Papers (1965-1991) or as a supplement to the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (1992-2008). Although AAHPERD is located in the United States, people from around the world are eligible to and do submit their work for consideration. This study examined trends in international research at AAHPERD conventions between 1965 and 2008. Methods: Content analysis was applied to the 44 volumes of published research abstracts. Analysis/Results: A total of 9,132 research abstracts were reviewed, and 657 (7.19%) were found to have an international component. Inclusion of international research on the conference program, defined as having a non U.S. author, using non U.S. participants, or both, ranged from a low of 1.97% in 1983, to a high of 14.24% in 2007. The majority of international abstracts were the result of having non U.S. authors (n = 297, 45.2%), followed by both non U.S. authors and non U.S. participants (n = 191, 29.1%), and non U.S. research participants (n = 169, 25.7%), χ² (2, N = 657) = 42.77, p <. 0001. Excluding the U.S., 75 different countries or world regions were represented. The countries with the highest frequency of participation were Canada (n = 258), Korea (n = 82), Hong Kong (n = 80), China (n = 71), Taiwan (n = 71), England (n = 50), Turkey (n = 31), and Australia (n = 23). Twenty-four countries (32%) were only represented once. More than half (i.e., n = 374, 56.93%) of the international presentations involved researchers and/or research participants from the U.S. A scatter plot and trend line revealed a decrease in the amount of international research presented between 1965 and 1983, after which there was an increase through 2008. During the last five years (i.e., 2004-2008), 12.14 percent of the research presentations had an international component, and four of the last five years represented the highest percentages ever. Most of this growth appears to be due to increased contributions coming from researchers in the Southeast Asian countries of China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan. Conclusions: These results should help inform the strategic planning efforts of AAHPERD and the Research Consortium. Funded by a URAP grant.