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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 14, Issue 2, Article 4 (Dec., 2013) |
Content analysis method, a frequently used method in quantitative researches, was used in this study. A systematic and detailed analysis of a total number of 104 papers- including 42 papers from Turkish authors and 62 papers from foreign authors - was made. Thereby, similar data were gathered around certain concepts and themes; organized in a way that is meaningful to the reader and then interpreted (Yildirim & Simsek, 2006).
Document analysis of a total number of 104 papers-including 42 papers from Turkish authors and 62 articles from foreign authors - on PBL in science education in 59 different journals (22 Turkish journals and 37 journals abroad) was made. Title of each journal and the number of papers on PBL are given in Appendix 1.
“Paper Classification Form” developed by Sozbilir, Kutu and Yasar (2012) was used as the data collection tool. This form is made up of seven sub-dimensions, which are descriptive information about the identity of the papers, the area of the paper, the subject matters, research methods, data collection tools, sample and data analysis methods.
In order to ensure the reliability of the study, randomly chosen 11 papers in the classification process of the papers were separately analyzed by the authors. Thereby, whether there was a high consistency among the papers analyzed or not was examined. It was determined that there was an agreement among the authors most of the time and when there was a disagreement among the authors, a consensus was arrived after discussions among the authors. The document analysis of the remaining papers was made by the 2nd (second) author who has works on content analysis (e.g. Sozbilir, Kutu & Yasar, 2012; Kizilaslan, Sozbilir & Yasar, 2012). The data were obtained by filling the online papers evaluation form prepared using “Google Drive”. This program enabled the data to be well-organized and presented in excel. Thus, the results were transferred into graphic, frequency and percent tables and presented descriptively.
