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Research in Physics Education: A Study of Content Analysis

Article  in  Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences · August 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.353

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

LINELT 2013

Research in Physics Education: A Study of Content Analysis

Hüseyin Uzunboylua , Gülsüm Aşıksoyb*
a
Near East University, Department of Educational Curriculum and Instruction, Nicosia, Cyprus
b
Near East University, Department of Computer Education and Educational Technology, Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract

The current study is a content analysis of research in Physics education that was published between the years of 2008 and
2013 and was reached through the Turkish national academic network and information centre (ULAKBIM) and EBCSO. It is
aimed to guide the researchers who are planning to conduct studies in this particular field by specifying tendencies of 105 articles
on physics education in terms of their methods, subject areas, research titles, data analysis techniques, and sampling types. The
data obtained from the study is presented with graphic, frequency and percentage tables. According to the research results, the
physics education research was mostly carried out in 2013. When physics as subject titles is take into consideration, it is found
that a large part of the studies are about mechanical physics and electric physics; however, when they are analyzed from the angle
of their research titles, it seems that teaching methods and cognitive dimensions came into prominence. The findings of the study
indicate that the majority of the physics education studies are quantitative in nature; achievement tests, interest tests, attitude tests
and aptitude tests are mainly used as data collection instruments; a descriptive analysis method is used as data analysis method.
Besides, the researchers preferred to choose their sample group from secondary school students and as a sample size they focused
on groups of 31-100 students. The necessary recommendations are offered to the researchers of physics education in this study.

© 2014
© 2014 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
ElsevierLtd.
Ltd.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013.
Keywords: Physics education, educational research, content analysis, scientific research methods.

1. Introduction

The scientific research in the field of education is the most important indicator of to what extent education
systems of countries developed (Arık and Türkmen, 2009). It is apparent that there is a considerable increase in the
number of studies carried out in the field of education n recent years. While some articles in this field measure
reliability of previous studies by reviewing the literature, others form a basis for changes in education system
(Karadağ, 2009).

Technology has changed our lives, especially in the field of education. With the development of technology, each
kind of information can reach to very large groups of people rquickly. (Civelek, et.al., 2013; Arslan, et.al., 2011;
Corresponding Author: Gülsüm Aşıksoy
E-mail: gulsum73@yahoo.com

1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.353
426 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

Cheung, 2013; Demirel, 2009). Countries for not staying behind the scientific and technologic advances and
maintain the continuity of their advances desire to raise productive individuals in technology field (Ayas, 1995;
Ünal, 2003). This is why the interest of countries towards these fields has grown and has made them concentrate on
science and mathematics fields in education systems (Sztajn, 1995). There is no doubt that science and mathematics
are the basis of technologic advances. Particularly, scientific studies in physics field play a vital role in the
development of technology (Bodur, 2006). Today physics is the first discipline comes to mind when technology is
mentioned. Most of the tools and instruments of technology around are developed with the interpretation of the laws
of physics (Fishbane, Gasiorowicz, and Thornton, 1996; Dorothy and Siraj 2010).

Scientific research is considerably important in terms of the development of field education (Apaydın, 2009).
Examining the tendencies of research conducted in the field of science is to be a guide for educators, teachers and
students with regard to scientific debate. Examining and organizing research in education from time to time are
crucial with respect to the researchers who are willing to do their research on relevant fields (Cohen, Manion and
Morrison, 2007). Also, an analysis study of the total studies carried out will be a guide for the researchers in terms
of making use of these studies and facilitating the application (Cohen and Manion, 1990).
There are studies examining the research in the field of education when the literature is reviewed. Bacanak,
Değirmenci, S. Karamustafaoğlu and O. Karamustafaoğlu (2011) have been a guide for researchers with their
articles and their methods published between the years of 2004 and 2011 in the field of science education.
O.Karamustafaoğlu (2009) with another study identified and then classified studies carried out between the years of
2000 and 2009 on elementary science and technology education according to their subject areas. Thus
O.Karamustafaoğlu (2009) by identifying primary research subjects with regard to the education of this field has
been a guide for researchers. Tatar, E. and Tatar, E. (2008) made a descriptive analysis of science and mathematics
education research published in Turkey between the years of 2000 and 2006. In another study, Ulutaş and Ubuz
(2008) drew a picture of the overall position of mathematics education research by examining the articles published
in the field of mathematics education in the journals of Educational Research, Faculty of Education, Hacettepe
University, Elementary Education Online E-Journal and Turkish Education Association Education and Science
published between the years of 2000 and 2006. The results of the study show that the mathematics education
research is low in number and there is a recommendation that more studies should be conducted in this field. Hart,
S.Z. Smith, Swars and M.E. Smith (2009) in one of their articles classified mathematics education research that was
carried out between the years of 1995 and 2005 according to their methods. In this study, it was found that in 50% of
the articles, the qualitative method was used, in 21% of the articles the quantitative method was used and in 29% of
the articles the mixed method was used. Lubiensky and Bowen (2000), stated that in the articles of mathematics
education that were published between the years of 1982 and 1998 and were reached via ERIC data base, gender,
ethnic group, social class and opportunity disabilities were among the mostly researched subjects. Scientific learning
and teaching, student success, teacher behaviors, curriculum, and technology, on the other hand, were found to be
the mostly conducted titles. There are numerous articles published abroad in scientific journals where the used
methods in those articles examined through the document analysis (Mee, Lan & Chin, 2009; Ritter, et.al. 2009;
Roseth, Johnson, & Johnson, 2008; Ginsburg-Block, Rohrbeck, & Fantuzzo, 2006; Rohrbeck, et.al., 2003;
Cavanaugh, 2001). Similarly, it is quite possible to come across with content analysis studies when the domestic
literature is reviewed. (Geçit, 2010; Gülbahar & Alper, 2009; Yalçın et.al., 2009; Başol, 2006; Şahin, 2005;
Bayraktar, 2001-2002).

Today there are studies conducted in every field and this naturally brings several problems along with itself.
While the results of some studies go parallel with each other, some others simply contradict with each other. Content
analysis is a method of evaluating many studies (Falkingham and Reeves, 1998). It is stated that examining and
arranging studies in a single study will enable researchers to benefit from those studies and will be a guide for those
who want to carry out studies in relevant subjects (McDermott and Redish, 1999).

In this research, the result of the literature review shows that the number of content analysis studies in the field
of physics education is quite limited.
In this study, content analysis is performed to the research of physics education that was reached through the
data bases of ULAKBİM and EBSCO. Since the number of the number of content analysis studies in the field of
physics education is found limited as the result of the literature review within the study, it is thought that such a
 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437 427

study will fill a void in the literature. It is also aimed that specifying the methods, subject areas, research titles, data
analysis techniques and sampling groups of the physics education research will lead researchers, educators as well
as academics.

In this study, answers are looked for for the following research questions:
• How are the articles within the context of the study distributed by years?
• How are the articles according to their physics titles within the context of the study distributed?
• How are the articles according to their research titles within the context of the study distributed?
• Most of which research method and design are the articles within the context of the study conducted?
• Which data collection instruments are mainly used in the articles within the context of the study?
• What are the most common sampling type and sampling size used in the articles within the context of the
study?
• How are the data analysis techniques and numbers in the articles within the context of the study?
• How are the articles according to the number of their authors within the context of the study distributed?
• How are the articles according to the number of sources used within the context of the study distributed?

2. Methodology

2.1 Model of the Study

In this current study, document scanning method is used which is thought to be the most suitable method for
this study from the content analysis point of view. The content analysis that is generally used in qualitative research
is a kind of analysis method that organizes certain features of written texts numerically (Bauer, 2003).

2.2 Analysis of the Data

For the data of the study, the research on physics education published between the years of 2008 and 2013 in
the data bases of EBSCO and ULAKBIM was scanned. The scanning was limited with “physics education”,
“educational research”, “content analysis”, “scientific research techniques” key words and years from 2008 and
2013. While carrying out the content analysis, the sub aims of the study are taken as the basis for evaluating the
criteria. The criteria are as follows;

• Publication year
• Physics subject titles
• Research titles
• Research methods
• Research models
• Data collection instruments
• Sampling type and size
• Data analysis techniques and numbers
• Number of authors
• Number of sources used

2.3 Data Analysis

The articles reached within the context of the study (publication year, physics subject titles, research titles,
research methods, research models, data collection instruments, sampling type and size, data analysis
techniques and numbers, number of authors, number of sources used) are evaluated under ten basic titles and
then their descriptive analyses are performed. With the aim of establishing a common language for classifying
the studies that will be carried out in the field of physics education in future years, the previous studies were
analyzed and the titles used by Kayhan and Koca (2004) were rearranged. If a study contains two or more
428 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

dimensions, each dimension is dealt with separately for the so-called characteristic. While evaluating the
sampling, for example, if both teachers and students are used, the so-called study is coded in two different
categories. The evaluated studies are coded by getting separated into subtitles under ten basic titles and the data
gathered were analysed through the use of Microsoft excel 2013. The results are descriptively presented with
the tables of percentage and frequency as well as graphics.

3. Findings

In this part, the results of the physics education research are presented in sequence with their interpretations.

3.1 The Distribution of Physics Education Research by Years

The numbers and percentages of the physics education research published between the years of 2008-2013 are
given in Table 1 below. According to the findings obtained, it could be said that the numbers of studies published
from 2008 to 2012 are considerably close to each other. In 2013, however, there is a remarkable increase in
publication number.

Tablo 1.The distribution of the number of articles by years between the years of 2008 and 2013
Years Frequency(f) Percentage(%)
2008 17 16.19
2009 18 17.14
2010 16 15.24
2011 17 16.19
2012 14 13.33
2013 23 21.90
Total 105 100

3.2 The Distribution of Physics Education Research According to Their Physics Subject Titles

In the articles examined, the subjects studied are classified by taking the sub fields of physics into account. The
sub fields of physics include mechanic physics, electrical physics, magnetism physics, atom physics,
thermodynamic physics, optic, nuclear physics. In the mixed category, nonetheless, the publications that are done in
the field of physics and not stated as sub fields are meant. As it could be seen in Figure 1, most of the research is
carried out in the field of mechanic physics (%30.48). It is also worth stating that very little research (% 1.90) is
performed on nuclear physics.
 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437 429


























Figure 1. The distribution of articles examined according to their physics subject titles
3.3 The Distribution of Physics Education Studies According to Their Research Titles
The distribution of physics education articles according to their research titles that were reached from the
databases of ULAKBİM and EBSCO between the years of 2008 and 2013 are presented in Table 2. For contributing
to the classification of studies that will be conducted in the future in the field of physics education and establishing a
common language the previous studies were examined and the titles used by Kayhan and Koca (2004) were
rearranged. The so-called research titles belong to the categories are given below:
• Emotional Dimension
• Cognitive Dimension
• Success
• Education Technology
• Teaching Methods
• Teacher Training Programme in Science/Physics Education
• Assessment and Evaluation
It is so obvious that teaching methods dimension is one of the mostly concentrated dimensions (34.28%) in the
research of physics education. After the teaching method dimension, cognitive dimension (19.15%), emotional
dimension (12.38%), assessment and evaluation dimension (12.30%), physics teacher training programme
dimension (11.42%), education technology dimension (8.57%) took place respectively. The success dimension,
however, is the least (1.90%) studied dimension.
Table 2. The distribution of studies examined between the years of 2008 and 2013 according to their research titles
Subject Variables f %
Emotional Dimension 13 12.38
Cognitive Dimension 20 19.15
Success 2 1.90
Education Technology 9 8.57
Teaching Methods 36 34.28
Physics Teacher Training Programme 12 11.42
Assessment and Evaluation 13 12.30
Total 105 100
430 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

3.4 The Research Methods Used in the Physics Education Research

The information about the research methods of physics education research that was reached through the
databases of ULAKBİM and EBSCO between the years of 2008 and 2013 could be seen in Table 3 below. The
findings show that the researchers primarily used the quantitative method (55.24%), secondarily used the qualitative
method (37.14%) and thirdly used the mixed method (7.62%).

Table 3. The research methods of the examined studies

Research Methods f %
Quantitative 58 55.24
Qualitative 39 37.14
Mixed 8 7.62
Total 105 100

3.5 The Research Designs Used in Physics Education Research

The findings about the research designs of the articles examined within the context of the study are presented in
Table 4 below. According to these results, it is seen that semi experimental design which is one of the quantitative
research methods is the mostly used design (19.05%) in experimental studies. On the other hand, full experimental
design and weak experimental design are used with the percentages of 7.62% and 2.86% respectively. There is no
single subject study within the articles examined. In the research models that are not experimental, it is stated that
mainly (12.38%) descriptive design is used. The scan pattern is used with the percentage of 8.57% and it is also
found that the researchers do not prefer to use comparative (2.86%) and correlation (1.9%) designs. In qualitative
research, it is pointed out that there is tendency towards the studies of literature (26.66%) and concept analysis
(10.48%). In the mixed method, on the other hand, exploratory studies (4.76%) are more common than the
explanatory studies (2.86%).

Table 4. The research designs of the examined studies

Research
f %
Design
Fully Experimental 8 7.62
Semi-experimental 20 19.05
Experimental Weak experimental 3 2.86
Single subject 0 0
Quantitative Scan pattern 9 8.57
Non-
Descriptive 13 12.38
experimental
Comparative 3 2.86
Correlation 2 1.9

Literature 28 26.66
Qualitative Concept analysis 11 10.48

Explanatory 3 2.86

Mixed 4.76
Exploratory 5
 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437 431

3.6 Data Collection Instruments and Their Numbers in Physics Education Research
The information about the data collection instruments used by the physics education researchers are given in
Table 5 below. While examining the data collection instruments used in the articles, it is understood that in some
studies more than one data collection is used (for example achievement test and interview). Thus each data
instrument is coded and frequencies are specified according to this coding. This is why the frequencies in Table 5
are more than the frequencies in Table 1. The findings indicate that the achievement tests (28.12%) and interest,
attitude, aptitude tests (23.75%) are mostly used. Besides, it is found that for the physics education researchers, the
documentary data collection method is less preferable. It is also important to state that observation method is not
used at all by those researchers.

Table 5. The distribution of data Collection Instruments

Data Collection Instruments Frequency(f) Percentage(%)
Multiple Choice 34 21.25
Open ended 11 6.87
Questionnaire 31 19.38
Likert Type 27 16.87
Open ended 6 3.75
Interest, attitude, aptitude tests. 38 23.75
Interview 26 16.25
Structured 7 4.37
Semi-structured 15 9.37
Unstructured 3 1.87
Unspecified 1 0.62
Documents 20 12.5
Observation 0 0

The numbers of data collection instruments are also given in Figure 2. It is stated that using one data collection
instrument (64.76%) is mostly preferred and using three or more data collection instrument (11.44 %) is less
preferable. In 23.80% of the research, two data collection instruments preferred to be used.

 





#







 




#






 





#




Figure 2. The distribution of the numbers of data collection instrument used

3.7 The Sampling and Sampling Size Used in Physics Education Research

The findings belong to the sampling types used in the physics education research that were published between
the years of 2008 and 2013 and were reached through the data bases of ULAKBİM and EBSCO are presented in
Table 6.
432 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

While in some of the studies examined within the research context one type of sampling is used, in others more
than one sampling type is used. For examining the articles with more than one sampling type, coding is done. For
example, if both secondary school students and teachers were used in a single study, a separate coding was done for
each sampling type. Therefore, not the publication number but the data number that was collected according to the
sampling type was taken into consideration. In the articles examined, secondary school students (39.05%) and
teachers (36.19%) are widely used. Postgraduate students (0.95%) and families (1.90%), on the other hand, are not
among the often used sampling types. Since, more than one sampling type is used in one article; the total percentage
of using sampling according to articles is more than 100%.

Table 6. The distribution of the sampling types used and their usage percentages in articles

Sampling Types f %
Secondary Education 41 39.05
Students of the Faculty
34 32.38
of Education
Postgraduate 1 0.95
Teachers 38 36.19
Families 2 1.90
Other 6 5.71

When the Figure 3 is examined, it could be said that the physics educators studied with sampling groups formed
from maximum 31-100 (41.90%) people. Besides, it is pointed out that they were not very happy to work with more
than 1000 (2.86%) people. It is also seen that the articles that do not give any information about the sampling size is
0.95%.














Figure 3. The sampling size that physics educators use

3.8 Data Analysis Methods and Numbers Used in Physics Education Research

The information about data analysis methods and techniques in the articles of physics education field that were
published between the years of 2008 and 2013 is given in Table 7 below. The findings demonstrate that
frequency/percentage (15.24%) and mean/standard deviation (8.57%) are the mostly used descriptive data analysis
techniques of the quantitative data analysis methods. T-test (13.33%) and ANOVA/ANCOVA (7.62%) from the
predictive technique, on the other hand, are the mostly used ones. Descriptive analysis (27.62%) which is one of the
qualitative data techniques came into prominence.

Table 7. The distribution of data analysis method and techniques

 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437 433

Data analysis method and techniques f %

Frequency/Percentage/Chart 16 15.24
Descriptive Mean/Standard Deviation 9 8.57
Illustrating with Graphics 2 1.90
QUANTITATIVE T-test 14 13.33
ANOVA/ANCOVA 8 7.62
Correlation 3 2.86
Predictive Factor Analysis 3 2.86
Non-parametric tests 6 5.72
Regression 2 1.90
MANOVA/MANCOVA 2 1.90
Descriptive Analysis 29 27.62
QUALITATIVE Content Analysis 11 10.48
As it could be seen in Table 8, the researchers mostly preferred to use single type (73.33%) data analysis
method. Although there are studies carried out with two different data analysis methods (18.10%), use of three or
more data analysis methods (8.57%) is not really preferred.

Table 8. The number of data analysis methods used in the research

Number of Data Analysis Method f %

Single data analysis method 77 73.33

Two different data analysis method 19 18.10

Three or more data analysis method 9 8.57

3.9 Author Number of the Physics Education Research

The findings showing the number of authors that published articles in the field of physics education between the
years of 2008 and 2013 are given in the following Table 9. It was stated that the total number of the authors is 219 in
the articles examined. Besides, the number of articles with 2 authors is 54 whereas the number of articles with 4
authors is only 8.

Tablo 9. The distribution of articles according to their author number

Author
f %
Number
1 25 23.80
2 54 51.42
3 18 17.14
4 8 7.61
434 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

3.10 Source Number of the Physics Education Research

The findings obtained from the result of the analysis carried out according to the source number of the physics
education research that was examined within the context of the study are given in Table 10 below. The maximum
use of source in the articles is between the numbers of 61 and 100 and the minimum use of source in the articles is
between the numbers of 31 and 60. It is also significant to point out that there are no studies with a source number of
over 100.

Table 10. The distribution of articles according to their source number

Source Number f %
1-30 sources 45 42.86
31-60 sources 52 49.52
61-100 sources 8 7.62
101-300 sources 0 0

4. Discussion and Recommendations

The current study is a content analysis. In the study, it is aimed to identify the tendencies of the physics
education studies conducted recently and thus guide the researchers in that sense. With this particular purpose, the
physics education research that was reached through the databases of ULAKBİM and EBSCO and published
between the years of 2008 and 2013 was examined from different dimensions.

When the physics education research publication on yearly basis is taken into consideration, it is stated that the
numbers of articles published from 2008 to 2012 are very close to each other. It is also quite important here to
mention that there is a remarkable increase in the number of article publication in 2013. This, automatically, put
extra emphasis on the science education in recent years and it is thought that, in turn, Higher Education Commission
felt the great necessity of restructuring the faculties of education (Türkmen, 2007). Besides, the increase in the
number of physics education is also confirmed with the studies of Karamustafaoğlu (2009) and Sağlam Arslan and
Paliç (2012).

When the articles within the context of the study are taken into account from the angle of physics subject areas,
it is discovered that mechanic physics and electrical physics are preferred more and the number of studies carried
out apart from these subject areas is found quite insufficient. It is expected to have an increase particularly in the
studies of solid state physics, nuclear physics and atom physics.

According to the research findings, it is certain that the main focus is primarily put on the teaching methods and
cognitive dimension. This goes parallel with the studies conducted by Kayhan ve Koca (2004). Although there are
studies on emotional and assessment-evaluation dimension, the necessity of conducting studies on other dimensions
is confirmed by the findings of other studies.

In the study, it became very obvious that the quantitative methods are intensively used. This means that the
qualitative methods are less used in this current study. In the studies of Şimşek (2008) and Arık and Türkmen
(2009), the same thing observed. They also preferred to use quantitative methods. On the other hand, it is also
discovered that the number of mixed method studies where both qualitative and quantitative methods are in use is
not very high. In quantitative studies, findings obtained are demonstrated with numbers whereas in qualitative
studies, the findings are shown in full, in their natural setting, in an interpretive way (Creswell, 2003). Carrying out
 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437 435

more detailed physics education studies requires concentrating on using qualitative techniques and thus having more
qualitative studies. This is among the recommendations offered in the study. Mixed studies are the ones where
qualitative and quantitative techniques are used together and are the data in different types that is converted to each
other (Creswell, 2003). It is noticed in the articles examined within the context of the research that the number of
mixed studies is considerably low. Therefore, taking the findings obtained from the study into consideration it could
be recommended that the number of mixed and qualitative studies in the field of physics education should be
increased meaningfully. Besides, data at different types should be used multiply and thus be interpreted accordingly.

In the research examined, it is found that experimental design as one of the quantitative methods is used mostly.
The main aim of the experimental design is to identify the relations by controlling the whole variables,
environmental factors and the sampling. So, it is not unusual to come across with experimental design in the physics
education research. In qualitative research methods, on the other hand, literature review gains prominence.

It is stated that the researchers prefer to use achievement tests, and interest, attitude, aptitude tests. There is no
study found with observational method since it is thought that observational method as a data collection instrument
is time taking. Also, in Şimşek’s (2008) study, it is found that achievement tests are the most preferred data
collection instruments in the fields of mathematics and science. In this study, it is thought that there is a relation
between the high number of studies with quantitative techniques and the high rate of using achievement tests.
Besides, it is found that in the analyses related to the number of data collection instrument that are used in the
research, the studies with one data collection instrument (64.76%) are more in number. This result is thought to be
related with the high number of quantitative studies. However, using more than one data collection instrument in the
physics education research is highly recommended for reliability and validity of the study results.

It is found that in the physics education articles, secondary school students, teachers and the students of faculty
of education are the mostly preferred sampling groups respectively. It is thought that the reason why those groups
are used more than the others is the fact that the researchers could reach this sampling type more easily. It would be
beneficial for the physics education if physics educators prefer the students of faculty of education. At the end of the
analysis of relevant publications, it is stated that physics educators mainly used the sampling groups of 31-100 and
101-300. This result shows that the emphasis is on the sampling type that is small in size. The reason for this is
thought to be the fact that the data could be collected in a shorter time when small size sampling groups are in use.
The result reached in this study supports the results of other studies conducted by Göktaş et.al (2012).

It is found that the physics educators mostly used descriptive analysis technique since they preferred to get
benefited from quantitative research methods. Also, it is said that single data analysis method (73.33%) is generally
used. The reason for this is that the effect of only one variable is examined on the research subject and the results are
reached in a very short time and this of course results in using a single data analysis method. However, it is
recommended to use more than one data analysis technique for the reliability and validity of a study.

When the analysis of the articles carried out according to their author numbers, it is seen that three out of four
of the research is conducted by one or two authors. This, nevertheless, indicates that the physics education research
is not done collaboratively. The reason why multiple author articles are low in number is that the collaboration
between the authors is not strong enough as well as their responsibilities are vague. This, automatically, could
decrease the reliability of the research (Emiroğlu, 2005).

When the source numbers of the studies within the research are gone through, it is stated that mainly between
the numbers of 31 and 60 sources are used. It is found that the number of studies used sources between the numbers
of 61 and 100 is low and it is also important to say that there are no studies with sources more than 100. Therefore, it
is recommended that having a more detailed literature review and using more updated sources would be very
beneficial in following the developments occurring in this particular field.

The findings of the content analysis research are believed to be a guide for the researchers and educators in
terms of conveying information on the subjects, research techniques and data analysis methods used in the physics
education research. Additionally, taking the low number of content analysis in the field of physics education into
436 Hüseyin Uzunboylu and Gülsüm Aşıksoy / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 425 – 437

consideration it could be concluded that the continuity of examining the research tendencies of physics education
researchers will dramatically increase their tendencies towards this field. Also, it is recommended to increase the
number of studies of physics education in the journals of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that are in the index
of ULAKBİM and EBSCO.

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