PhD V.N. Baranov¹
Dr. Hab., Professor B.N. Shustin¹
Dr .Hab. V.F. Noskova^2
1Federal Research Center for Physical Culture and Sports (FRC VNIIIFK), Moscow
²St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture, St. Petersburg

Keywords: research thesis, physical education and sports, research fields, branches of scienceю

Background. Analyses of the research theses for certain periods classified by the knowledge branches may be beneficial for studies of the research progress trends and for further research planning purposes [4, 1, 5]. It is traditional for the national sport science to analyze the key fields and contents of the national physical education and sports research theses on a yearly basis [3].

Objective of the study was to make a physical education and sports research progress analysis based on  classification of the physical education and sports theses defended in 2017-18 by priority topics and fields.

Methods and structure of the study. The physical education and sports research theses topics for the period were classified by the key research fields as follows:

1) Under the traditional classification as follows:

– Mass physical education and mass sports;

– Elite sports and sport reserve training systems;

– physical education and sport sector management (Management);

– physical education and sport sector staffing and the relevant training, advancement and retraining issues (Staff);

2) By branches of science including pedagogy;

3) By the 13.00.04 Physical Education Theory and Practice, Sport Training, Health and Adaptive Physical Education discipline classes as follows:

• General physical education theory: fundamental issues;
• Physical education theory and practice;
• Sports theory and practice;
• Professional/ applied physical education theory and practice;
• Health physical education theory and practice;
• Adaptive physical education theory and practice; and
• Sports psychology; and

4) By the following sports groups:

• Cyclic sports;
• Speed-strength sports;
• Artistic sports;
• Martial arts; and
• Team sports.

Results and discussion. Given in Tables 1-3 hereunder are the physical education and sports RT classification and trend analysis.

Table 1. 2017-18 physical education and sports research theses topics by branches of science including pedagogy, Doctoral/ PhD theses

As demonstrated by Table 1, the ongoing physical education and sports research gives a highest priority to the elite sports related issues (11 doctoral theses and 111 PhD theses); followed by the mass physical education and mass sports issues (4 doctoral theses and 86 PhD ones); then by the staff training, advancement and retraining issues (4 doctoral theses and 41 PhD ones); and by the physical education and sports management issues (2 doctoral theses and 15 PhD).

Most of the research theses for the period were defended in the following pedagogical specialties: 13.00.04 Physical Education Theory and Practice, Sport Training, Health and Adaptive Physical Education discipline (7 doctoral theses and 154 PhD); 13.00.08 Professional Education Theory and Practice (3 doctoral theses and 26 PhD); 13.00.01 General Pedagogy, Education and Teaching Service History (1 doctoral theses and 10 PhD); 13.00.05 Socio-cultural Service Theory, Practice and Management (2 PhD); and no one thesis was defended in 13.00.02 Education and Upbringing Theory and Practice and 13.00.03 Corrective Pedagogy.

Leading in the other branches of science were the research theses in medicine (2 doctoral theses and 16 PhD), biology (5 doctoral theses and 8 PhD) and psychology (11 PhD). On the whole, the physical education and sports research for the period showed no deviation from the general trend of 1991-2016 [2].

Table 2. 2017-18 physical education and sports research theses classified by the 13.00.04 Physical Education Theory and Practice, Sport Training, Health and Adaptive Physical Education discipline classes

Table 3. 2017-18 physical education and sports research theses classified by the sports groups

As demonstrated by Table 3, of special interest for the physical education and sports researchers for the period were mostly the team sports and martial arts. It should be mentioned that the national physical education and sports research community showed the disappointedly low interest in the highly competitive ‘medals-yielding’ cyclic sports; and no interest in the speed-strength sports. On the whole, 61 sports research thesis were defended for the period, mostly in 13.00.04 specialty (1 doctoral theses and 52 PhD).

Conclusion. Analysis of the physical education and sports research theses defended in 2017-18 found the popular fields of research dominated by the elite sports and sport reserve training issues followed by the mass physical education and mass sports. In the pedagogical disciplines, the research theses for the period gave most of the attention to 13.00.04 Physical Education Theory and Practice, Sport Training, Health and Adaptive Physical Education and 13.00.08 Professional Education Theory and Practice disciplines. Most popular for the physical education and sports research among the other branches of science were medicine, biology and psychology. In the 13.00.04 discipline classes, most of the research theses analyzed the sports theory and practice related issues followed by the physical education theory and practice. As far as the sports groups are concerned, the research community showed the highest interest in the team sports and martial arts. On the whole, the physical education and sports research for the period showed no deviation from the general trend of 1991-2016. Such studies make it possible to highlight the most relevant areas for the ongoing physical education and sports research and forecast progress of the sport science for the nearest future.

References

1. Zaguzov N.I., Zaguzova E.N. Key directions of dissertation research on the problems of theory and methods of physical education, sports training, adaptive and health-improving physical education for 2002-2003. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2004. no. 3 pp. 54-60.
2. Baranov V.N., Shustin V.N. Scientific foundations of elite sports and sports reserve training. M.: SK «Mir atletov», 2008. 540 p.
3. Laptev V.V., Larchenkova L.A. Problems of dissertation research in physical education sector. Voprosy obrazovaniya. 2016. no.4. pp. 31-58.
4. Gorelov A.A., Podlipnyak Yu.F., Shustin B.N. Examination of theses in 13.00.04 - “Theory and methods of physical education, sports training, recreational and adaptive physical education” in 2016. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2017. no. 3. pp. 58-62.
5. Baranov V.N., Shustin B.N. Development trends in domestic physical education and sports theses. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2018. no. 6. pp. 65-70.

Corresponding author: rudra54@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the areas of thesis research in the field of physical education and sports in the main research directions over the period from 2017 to 2018. The analysis was carried out according to the traditional structure; in teaching professions, as well as in other branches of science; according to the structure of the passport of the specialty 13.00.04 – "Theory and methodology of physical education, sports training, health-improving and adaptive physical education"; by major groups of sports. We identified the most intensively developed avenues of research in Russia.

The study showed that the experts place the highest emphasis on the problems of elite sports and training of sports reserves, as well as mass physical education and sports. Among the groups of sports, the highest priority was given to sports games and martial arts. The data obtained are generally consistent with the results of a general analysis of the development trends in the domestic thesis researches over the period from 1991 to 2016. Based on the analysis, the authors conclude that such researches enable to highlight not only the most relevant avenues of current studies in the field of physical education and sports, but also possible ways to develop sports science in the future.