The Content Analysis of Dissertations Completed in the Field of Curriculum and Instruction (2009-2014)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze dissertations completed in the field of Curriculum and Instruction (2009-2014) in terms of various aspects. Out of 165 dissertations, totally 121 dissertations were included in detailed analysis because 44 of them were unauthorized. In this research, the dissertations were analyzed with document analysis in terms of variables such as  university, year, research topic, method, design, sample type, sample size, data collection methods and data analysis techniques. In addition, descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages were also used by using SPSS-18 program. As a result of the study, it was found that mostly preferred topics in dissertations in the field of Curriculum and Instruction between the dates 2009-2014 are teaching-learning approaches/models/ methods and techniques, evaluation of formal education curricula, teaching-learning strategies/styles and their instruction, evaluation of teacher education curricula and teacher development practices. Furthermore, curriculum evaluation studies were mostly descriptive in which target curricula were evaluated based on perceptions of teachers, students, academicians etc.  It was also found that in most of the dissertations between the dates 2009-2014 survey/descriptive design was mostly preferred, the most used research method is mixed method, mostly preferred sampling types [target sample] are teachers and undergraduate students, the most used data collection tools are scales and interview form. Considering the current state of Curriculum and Instruction field according to the results of the research, it can suggested that dissertations should be in a way that contributes to the theory of the field.