Research tendencies in the discipline of distance education (2015-2022): Examination of doctoral theses in higher education in Turkey

The discipline of distance education is evolving and becoming mainstream, and this view requires examining research tendencies in the field. Motivated by this justification, it can be argued that understanding distance education to the fullest extent is possible partially through examining changes in theory and practice, as research conducted in the field reflects changes, dynamics, and perspectives. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to present the research tendencies in doctoral theses in the Turkish higher education context with a specific focus on distance education. In line with this aim, a total of 265 doctoral theses published between 2015 and 2022 were examined through data mining and analytics approaches. The analysis of the titles through t-SNE analysis revealed four broad themes. These are: (1) more emphasis on learning processes; (2) the comparison of online technologies and online learning spaces; (3) a strong focus on educational technologies; and (4) the limitations emerging from comparative studies. The examination of the abstracts through text-mining identified the following themes: (1) the methodological vicious circle, the pursuit of methodological perfection, and lack of critical perspectives; (2) the tendency to use online [educational] technologies; (3) the comparison of distance and face-to-face education; and (4) the design of social interaction and communication in distance education processes. Finally, the analysis of the keywords through word clouds surfaced the following research tendencies: (1) Technology-supported distance education processes; (2) the wide use of educational technologies; (3) focusing on issues related to the learners in distance education. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for future research directions.Bozkurt, A., Kır, Ş., Şenocak, D., Elibol, S., Özer, N., Orhan, G., Alpat, M. F., Çimen, E. E., Çankırlı, E., & İbileme, A. İ. (2022). Research tendencies in the discipline of distance education (2015-2022): Examination of doctoral theses in higher education in Turkey. In Proceedings of the 5th International Open & Distance Learning Conference (IODL22) (pp. 355-366). 28-30 September, 2022, Eskişehir, Turkey. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.742852