مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Evaluation of Theses in the Field Of Social Studies Education in Turkey

Abstract :

The purpose of this study is to analyze theses in the field of social studies education,and understand certain issues rose through these studies, and determine the awareness level of researchers in Turkey. The theses are examined through computer-based screening system to collect the data. National Thesis Center website of Council of Higher Education (CHE) is used for this purpose. Besides, the data is collected through the online database system of several university libraries. This is a mixed qualitative and quantitative research study. This study is conducted by scanning and doing content analysis of 294 masters‟ and 41 doctoral theses. These theses were grouped in terms of what research methods used in these studies; which year the studies are completed, and what universities the studies are carried out. Among the total number of 294 Social Studies master‟s theses, 33 of them are about the curriculum while 27 of them are on the student achievement in Social Studies. Examination of these theses shows that the topics of the theses fall within a certain framework of Social Studies. There have rarely seen topics selected to study out of this framework. The results stemming from this research also reveal that different ways of thinking in the field of Social Studies is necessary for development of the field. Therefore, this study has an important role to prevent the accumulation of similar studies in the field by providing guidance to researchers and their academic advisors so that they can generate more effective and efficient human resources in Social Studies.