The state of archery research
Who studies archery, where, on which archers and with samples of what size. The numbers come from the studies in the registry: for each one we read in the paper how many people were measured, how many women and men, in which country and with what bow.
- 708 studies in the registry
- 17,806 archers measured in all
- 20 people: the typical sample size (median)
- 37% women among the archers studied
- 51 countries where data were collected
When: a young field
The earliest study in the registry dates from 1930, but 71 in a hundred have come out in the last ten years. Archery has become a subject of systematic research only very recently, and much of what is taught is older than the studies that test it.
Where: a few countries do almost everything
The data come from 51 countries, but the top five account for 57 in a hundred studies. The country matters because archers, training and competition differ from one sporting system to another.
The country is where the data were collected, stated in the paper or clear from the text (a national team, a competition, a university); in 124 studies it cannot be worked out.
On whom: mostly men, mostly recurve
Among the archers whose sex the studies report, women are 37 in a hundred. 78 studies measure only men, 21 only women, and 147 do not report the participants' sex. What we know about shooting, then, we know mostly about men.
By discipline recurve dominates, and in 305 studies on people the bow is not even named. Compound, barebow and traditional bows are little studied: for those who shoot them, many claims in the registry are an extension from the recurve.
How many: small samples
The typical sample is 20 people, and 109 studies measure fewer than ten. With samples like these a small effect cannot be seen, and a large one may be chance: that is why the registry asks for several studies before saying corroborated.
How: few true experiments
Most studies measure once and compare, or measure before and after without a control group. Randomised studies number 41. In addition, 86 studies appear in journals with dubious editorial criteria: they stay in the registry, with a warning.
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