Advancing Research in Kinesiology: Introduction

At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education, the program focuses on a topic that both interests the Academy membership and has broader implications for our field. At the 75th anniversary meeting in 2005, the program focused on the history of the subdisciplines (Morrow, 2006) and was followed by meetings that discussed the current academic core of our discipline (Reeve, 2007) and the future of the subdisciplines (Clark, 2008). Each of these programs and the Academy Papers that followed provided insight and perspectives of the field—from its beginning into the immediate future—and suggested that our field has both a bright future and some challenges to achieve our potential. One of the great successes of kinesiology has been the research focus within many departments and the tremendous increase in knowledge generation. Since Franklin Henry’s (1964) call for an “academic discipline” in his classic paper, we have seen the subdisciplines develop and mature. Research has become a fundamental part of kinesiology. The change to a scholarly focus has not always been easy for kinesiology departments, and many still are looking for ways to create a research culture that supports and enhances scholarship. The program at the 78th meeting of the Academy, held in Chicago in late September 2008, focused on “Advancing Research in Kinesiology.” The meeting and the various presentations looked across subdisciplines, and speakers discussed topics that can help us grow and mature as a scholarly field. This issue of the Academy Papers provides a summary of the meeting held in Chicago. Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, a prolific scholar and experienced administrator, was the keynote speaker, and her paper provides an overview of how kinesiology departments and individual scholars can advance research. She addresses many issues that we should consider and adopt as we refine our scholarship. The other papers in this volume are organized by themes. The first set of papers focuses on building teams and collaborative groups and working together across research traditions. Given the call for interdisciplinary research in preparing grants and the potential benefit collaboration can have on expanding the research questions we ask, this topic was suggested by a number of Fellows as the program was developed. The papers are a product of the authors’ scholarship and professional experience developing successful collaborative teams. Patty Freedson discusses