Why would and should people join martial arts? A culture comparing research project   Background Far East martial arts enjoy increasing popularity in Germany. Why people join martial arts, why they sometimes stick to it tens of years, what they expect from doing martial arts, what importance they attach to their practice, why they prefer a special form of martial arts or why they turn away from it again - there is no firm theoretical knowledge about. On the other hand varied positive effects are accredited to martial arts: They are supposed to improve physical and psychological abilities, reduce aggressiveness, alleviate syndromes like the attention deficit disorder and ease coping with structural and social challenges. Again we hardly find empirical results about these, apart from the aggressiveness topic. Behind all this in Germany we face a prospering but almost unexplored scenery of martial arts. We know that there are martial arts in sports clubs and associations, commercial schools and fitness studios, and that many martial arts find their champions in national and international competitions. In addition to this we find an expanding market of "soft" martial arts, in which exclusive claims rival to each other and in which it all comes down to the green. But there are only some selective analysis of how these structures and organizations precisely appear, and how the development works in this field we are not yet given a satisfying overview.   Questions Against this background three questions seem advisable: 1. How does the scenery of martial arts in Germany turn out to be? Here the point is to find out how the scenery of martial arts in Germany developed historically and by which sociological and organizational forms of appearance it is characterized. 2. Why do people join martial arts? Here the point is to find out what people motivates to start practicing martial arts, to stick to it or, if so, to quit. Also there is to ask what parents hope to achieve by sending their children into martial arts courses. It is to work on as many settings as possible: physical education at school, sports club, commercial school, fitness studio, course of health insurance companies, holiday club etcetera. Drawing the samples has, beneath the general factors, to consider how long and in which frequency people have already practiced martial arts. 3. What kinds of effects cause martial arts? Here the point is to find whether there appear specifics or changes in physical and psychological parameters which can be identified as effects of practicing martial arts. Clinically measurable effects as well as subjectively felt ones are to be included. In matters of the selection of settings and samples the aspects of question 2 hold good.   Methods and designs The following research methods are useful: • guided interviews; the design can vary of narrative, focused, episodic etc. • reconstruction of subjective theories • standardized questionnaire • self concept or self efficiency scales or similar instruments • motoric tests • hermeneutic studies • document analysis • structure and organization analysis • expert rating The empirical designs can be cross and longitudinal section combined with interventions and control groups.   Examples for final papers • Martial arts in Germany - Hermeneutic studies, document analysis and expert interviews about the evelopment of the martial arts scenery in Germany • Why do people join martial arts? - A hermeneutic study • Why do people join martial arts? - Qualitative analysis of contents of internet bulletin boards • Why do people join martial arts? - Explorative interview studies with people who practice martial arts • Why do people join martial arts for competition? - Explorative interview studies with people who do martial arts for competition • Why do parents send their children into martial arts courses? - Explorative interview studies with parents who sent their children into martial arts courses • How to implement martial arts safely into schools' physical education? - Intervention and evaluation studies with different martial arts in different forms • Age, job and duration of training as discriminating factors of main motives in karate - A replication study to the study of D.R. Bogdal & J.R. Syska, Polen, 2002 • Which effects on the development of children and adolescents come from practicing martial arts? - Longitudinal section studies with control groups on physical and psychological parameters with children and adolescents in sports clubs or in schools' p.e. with and without own intervention   Intercultural perspective The University of Bayreuth, Germany, in general and its department of sport science in particular cooperate with several Chinese, Japanese and South Korean universities. The project manager himself has personal contacts to Asia. It is aimed to introduce current projects to partners in China, Japan and South Korea in order to launch comparing projects in these countries. In the long run the whole project strives for the goal of cultural comparison. Impressum