2025.04.14
2025.04.14
2025.04.14
DIABOLO RESEARCH IN TAIWAN (台灣的扯鈴研究)
May 20, 2023
Photo source: by courtesy of the Diabolo Association Kaohsiung
Since diabolo being officially acknowledged as one of the major folk sports by Taiwan’s government in 1983, it has been promoted in schools as part of the curriculum for physical education and therefore been partially subsidised by the government. Such trend also triggered the academic research on diabolo from different perspectives in terms of its history, techniques, curriculum designs, methods for tutoring and training, applications of digital media, performing arts as well as business operations.
It has drawn a lot of attention from postgraduate research students of different academic backgrounds to devote and contribute to the hot topic – diabolo. Since the very first master’s thesis titled “Investigations on the current juggling and acrobats in Taiwan” from 1990 till the most recent one titled “Action research on cultivating problem-solving ability from diabolo learning in an elementary school” in 2022, there were approximately 73 theses relevant to the diabolo research being completed. The majority of diabolo research papers were completed by the postgraduate students from universities. It surely broadened and expanded the research perspectives on diabolo as it was analysed by different theories and methodologies from varieties of academic disciplines. The findings also gave feedback and insights to improve the practical operations of diabolo.
For example, the members of Diabolo Association Kaohsiung (高雄市扯鈴協會) published articles including “Challenges towards the internationalisation of Taiwan’s diabolo” which compared and contrasted the diabolo evolution among Australia, China and Taiwan. It explored the challenges and difficulties about promoting Taiwan’s diabolo to the world as well as provided possible solutions for that. Also, the other journal paper named “Reporting of the diabolo news in Taiwan’s mainstream newspapers” employed the qualitative news framing analysis to examine the diabolo-related news in the four mainstream newspapers of Taiwan. The findings might contribute to the press policy and writing styles while reporting the issues of relevant folk sports. Further, a master’s thesis titled “A study of diabolo sport industry – business model” took the Association as a case study and recommended the potential ways for the better operation. Another master’s thesis titled “Relationships among competitive state anxiety, flow experience and sport performance of diabolo contestants” investigated the correlation in terms of demographic variables. Questionnaires were utilised as a study tool to exam the interrelation among the above variables. The findings suggested that self-confidence, supports from parents and coaches were significantly important to the overall performance of contestants.
Research fields and methods:
A majority of the theses were from sports research disciplines including sports physiology, then followed by curriculum designs, motivations for engagement, instructional media or applications of multimedia, historical evolution, performing arts, self-narration or life history, and special education. For research methods, both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to meet different requirements of disciplines and fields including survey (interview and questionnaire), experimental research, literature analysis, content analysis, case study, action research, participant observation, life history and self-narration. In particular, varieties of scales were extensively conducted for examining teaching effects and learning satisfaction in schools.
In the digital age, it’s predictable to expect more interactive multi-media to be employed for diabolo activities, and more research on digital applications with diabolo will be explored.
About the author:
Mark Tsai/ PhD in Communication, University of Canberra, Australia. He won the championship title from Australian Diabolo Tournament and is currently working at Medicare Australia.