Common Method-Related Problems in Selected Research Studies on Educational Sciences in Turkey

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to reveal common method-related problems done in the selected research studies on educational sciences in Turkey. 51 research studies selected based on five pre-determined criteria from 40 peer-reviewed journals published in Turkey and 14 international journals were content analyzed in terms of design, sample, sampling, data collection instruments, validity and reliability assurance, and data analysis strategies. Later, method part of the selected studies was extracted and then scrutinized across 15 criteria which helped reveal errors and insufficiencies in the method part. The content analysis of the method part of the selected studies indicated four method-related problems in the selected studies as related to design, sample, instrumentation and data analysis. In many of the selected studies, adequate desciption of and rationale behind design, sampling, instrumentation and data analysis were not indicated. Most common problems encountered in the studies were that the researchers did not present validity (n=28) and reliability (n=24) assurance of the tests and the results. Descriptive statistics were mosty preferred compared to inferential statistics. Type-1 error was violated in some of the studie