Studies of genetics, stemmatics and other sciences have been applied to all sorts of literature in the last 20 years, including ballads, stories, mythology etc.

One person who has done this in the States is Bob Waltser (apologies if I spelt this wrong) who occasionally posts on the Indiana Ballad List. I use a primitive evolutionary study system when analysing ballads but all my own invention. I have received no formal training. And hitherto I have not used any computer programmes. But messaging with Bob it would appear what I do is something similar to stemmatics but without the rigid discipline of academia. One of Bob's studies involves the Robin Hood ballad 'The Geste' in all its manifestations. That's what I call dedication.