A content analysis of articles in Turkish early childhood education context

---

Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Temel Eğitim Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2019

Öğrenci: ELİF GÜVELİOĞLU

Danışman: FEYZA ERDEN

Özet:

This study was contrived to examine articles in the field of early childhood education published in Turkish academic journals. Under the scope of the study, descriptive and methodological characteristics of the articles were scrutinized while simultaneously conducting an investigation and categorization of their research topics. 822 articles from 62 Turkish academic journals, indexed under SSCI, ESCI, and the educational sciences category of ULAKBIM on early childhood education, published within the past decade were examined via content analysis. Results of the study showed that almost half the articles were designed (n=407) as quantitative studies. In complement with that, three most prevalent research methods were identified to be survey, (n=123), experimental (n=102), and correlational, (n=96). Accordingly, the widespread choice of sample group in the articles was children (35.6%). Findings of the study further demonstrated that 43.5% of the articles did not clarify their sampling methods. Among the articles, the most studied topics of research included educational subjects (n=424). Out of the sub-categories of educational research topics, special education/inclusion was the most prevalent by a rate of 10.1%. Given that, it is overall hoped the results of this study can contribute to research in the field of early childhood education from the standpoint of expatiating a detailed examination of the current status in the field.