Development and current status of science education research in Turkey

The aim of this study is to determine the status and the trends of subject matters investigated,

research methods/design and data analyses procedures used in science education research

papers published in Turkey. Data were obtained from 413 papers concerning science

education from 28 different journals publishing educational research in Turkey. Each paper

was subjected to a content analysis in terms of the subject studied, the research

design/method and data analysis methods used according to the Paper Classification Form

(PCF) developed by the first author. This document analysis has showed that although the

science education research is a new research enterprise for Turkey starting in 1990s, it took

great attention from the educational researchers and the number of papers published reached

a peak around 2005 but then showed a decline in 2006 and 2007. Although there are great

similarities with the international trends, there are differences as well in terms of the

frequently studied subjects and research methods. Studying identifications of misconceptions

are loosing the attention while teaching studies increases. On the other hand quantitative

research methods are still dominating Turkish science education research while qualitative

and mixed method researches are taking increasing attention in the world.