An investigation of physics education doctoral dissertations made in Turkey between 2010 and 2015

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate doctoral dissertations on physics education conducted in Turkey between the years of 2010 and 2015. The year, institution, language, researcher’s gender, advisor position, research design and method, number and properties of samples, subject, data collection tools and theme distribution of the doctoral studies were investigated. The document analysis technique, which is a qualitative research method, was used. The population for research was all doctoral dissertations in the field of physics education at various institutes in Turkey. The sampling group consisted of 78 dissertations accessed through the online National Thesis Centre. To collect data, a form of structure determination developed by the researcher was used. Data were analysed with categorical analysis techniques The findings indicated that the number of physics education doctoral dissertations has increased when compared with the number of dissertation made in the years 2001-2009. Most of these doctoral dissertations were conducted at Karadeniz Technical University and Middle East Technical University, with a mixed research method preferred by researchers. In general, highschool students and pre-service teachers were the sample for these dissertations. The theme of success and attitudes were the most frequent research topics used in dissertations on physics education.