Literature Review to appear in upcoming journal
Educational Technology Research Journals
Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2003 - 2012
Rob Nyland
Noelle Anderson
Tyler Beckstrom
Michael Boren
Rebecca Thomas
Richard E. West
Abstract
This paper analyzes articles published in The Journal of Educational Computing Research (JECR) from 2003 to 2012. The researchers analyzed the articles looking for trends in article types and methologies, the most common topics addressed in the articles, as well as the top cited articles, and the top authors during the period. The analysis suggests that JECR employs a primarily inferential approach to their articles, which aligns with the journals goal of effects based research. The most common topics addressed by the articles were “educational technology” and “computer assisted instruction”
Introduction
The Journal of Educational Computing Research was first published in 1985 from Southern New Hampshire University. For the journal’s first nine years, publication was annual with four issues and roughly 20 articles per volume. Starting in 1994, the journal doubled its output by doubling its frequency, and published biannually. The Journal of Educational Computing Research is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles meant for educators, researchers, policy makers, and scientists. Most articles published in the journal focus on outcome effects of educational computing applications, design and development of educational hardware and software, research in educational computing fields, and foundations of computer-based education (“‘Journal of Educational”’, n.d.). Since computer-based education is an interest to people from diverse backgrounds, the journal’s editors and authors are international and interdisciplinary.
The purpose of this paper was to analyze articles in the Journal of Educational Computing Research in the years 2003 to 2012. The authors purpose in analyzing these articles was to find what kinds of articles (methodologies and topics) are published in this journal as well as identify the major authors and the most-cited articles of the journal.
Methods
The authors reviewed 429 issues of The Journal of Educational Computing Research published between 2003 and 2012. Introductions to issues, editorials, and book reviews were not included in the analysis. The articles were analyzed for trends in article types, topics, authorship, and citations.
Article Types and Methodologies
The research methodology used in the articles were coded into one of the following categories:
- Inferential analysis - This included articles using quasi-experimental, experimental, or correlational methods of statistical research. They report inferential statistics that test hypotheses or report differences between groups.
- Interpretive analysis - This included articles that used case studies, interviews, observational studies, or other qualitative methods to gather data.
- Descriptive analysis - This included articles reporting descriptive statistics, often based on surveys or questionnaires.
- Theoretical/conceptual articles - This included non-data based articles and reviews of literature, which are meant to present and discuss theories, models, and technologies.
- Combined methods - This included articles that combined Interpretive and Inferential/Descriptive methods to interpret and present findings.
- Content/discourse analysis - This included articles with a purpose of coding written and recorded discourse into discrete, measurable categories.
To ensure reliability between the coders while analyzing methodology, the authors used the following system. First, we went through 10% of the articles together as a group to establish consensus on the methodology definitions, after which we coded the remaining articles At least 10% of articles were double-coded by another author for spot-check agreement. Any disagreements regarding methodologies were brought before the group for consensu
Topic Analysis
The authors extracted subject terms from the Educational Resources Information Center EBSCO database into a spreadsheet and then alphabetized and analyzed them for number of occurrences. Similar subject terms (such as Education and Education – Research) were combined because of their similar meaning. Subject terms deemed irrelevant to the journal subject matter (such as United States) were not included in the analysis. In addition to the subject term analysis, a word frequency count was performed on the article titles, using the website textalyser.net. Of the 429 articles from the years 2003-2012, three did not have subject terms provided by EBSCO.
Citation Analysis
The authors used Google Scholar to determine the number of citations of all published articles from The Journal of Educational Computing Research from 2003-2012. We felt that Google Scholar provides the most comprehensive list available on scholarship, as it is the basis for other scholarship analysis tools, including Publish or Perish. While Google Scholar might not be the most statistically valid way of measuring scholarship, we nonetheless felt that such an analysis will still uncover major contributions published in the journal during the highlighted time period.
Author Analysis
A medal count was used to identify the most prevalent authors. First authors received three points, second authors received two points, and additional authors received one point. All author names were organized into an Excel document, and color coded by authorship (for example, first authors were red, and second authors were green). Authors were then placed in alphabetical order, and total points for each author were calculated. Authors with the highest number of points were identified as the most prevalent authors for the 10 years reviewed in the Journal of Educational Computing Research.
Findings
Article Types and Methodologies
Table 1. Total by Methodology from 2003-2012
Method
|
# of Articles
|
% of Articles (rounded)
|
Inferential
|
242
|
56%
|
Interpretive
|
68
|
16%
|
Combined Methods
|
37
|
9%
|
Descriptive
|
36
|
8%
|
Theoretical
|
34
|
8%
|
Content Analysis
|
11
|
3%
|
Other
|
1
|
<1%
|
Table 2. Article Types and Methodologies by Year
Year
|
Inferential
|
Interpretative
|
Combined
|
Descriptive
|
Theoretical
|
Content Analysis
|
other
|
Total
|
2012
|
33
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
43
|
2011
|
26
|
8
|
9
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
46
|
2010
|
27
|
4
|
6
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
44
|
2009
|
23
|
7
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
0
|
42
|
2008
|
15
|
5
|
2
|
16
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
40
|
2007
|
25
|
11
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
43
|
2006
|
29
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
0
|
41
|
2005
|
18
|
13
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
41
|
2004
|
16
|
5
|
10
|
2
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
39
|
2003
|
30
|
8
|
0
|
8
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
50
|
429
|
Our analysis shows that inferential articles are the most common in the Journal of Educational Computing Research. As shown in Table 1, Inferential articles made up more than half of the articles found in our range from 2003 to 2012 with 242 articles or about 56 percent. Interpretive analysis ranked second with 68 articles at 16 percent. Combined methods, descriptive and theoretical were fairly close for third. The remainder made up little of the content in the journal. However, there was at least one article that was classified as “other” due to the nature of the research. The authors felt that none of the categories adequately described the used methodology.
In looking at Table 2, it appears that the methodologies of the articles remained fairly consistent throughout the ten year span of our study. This may be an indication that the journal has solidified in the types of studies that it publishes.
Topic Analysis
The topical analysis of the last decade revealed the EBSCO subject terms aligned with the title of journal, Journal of Educational Computing Research. The cumulative frequencies of the top 20 subject terms for the past decade in the journal are shown in Table 3. The top 20-ranked subject terms make up 28% of the total subject terms occurrences. The subject terms show an emphasis in computer-based and online educational research for the journal with computer assisted instruction, Internet in education, computers in education, and web-based instruction making up 33% of the total occurrences of the top 20 ranked subject terms. The emphasis in online and computer-based learning could also be seen in the top 10-ranked words that appeared in the titles of the articles as shown in Table 4.
Table 3. EBSCO Subject Term Occurrences for 2003-2013.
Rank
|
Subjects
|
Occurrences
|
1
|
Educational Technology
|
110
|
2
|
Computer Assisted Instruction
|
90
|
3
|
Learning
|
71
|
4
|
Internet in Education
|
68
|
5
|
Computers in Education
|
62
|
6
|
Education - Research
|
59
|
7
|
Web-based Instruction
|
54
|
8
|
Instructional Systems
|
44
|
9
|
Students
|
37
|
10
|
Educational Innovations
|
29
|
11
|
Teaching Aids and Devices
|
26
|
12
|
Teaching Methods
|
25
|
12
|
Academic Achievement
|
25
|
14
|
Distance Education
|
24
|
15
|
College Students
|
22
|
16
|
Problem Solving
|
20
|
17
|
Teaching
|
16
|
17
|
Teachers
|
16
|
19
|
Technology
|
15
|
20
|
Instructional Systems Design
|
14
|
Table 4. Word Occurrences in Article Titles for 2003-2012.
Rank
|
Word
|
Occurrences
|
1
|
learning
|
137
|
2
|
computer
|
70
|
3
|
students
|
63
|
4
|
online
|
62
|
5
|
technology
|
57
|
6
|
based
|
55
|
7
|
effects
|
46
|
8
|
use
|
40
|
9
|
student
|
33
|
10
|
cognitive
|
29
|
10
|
self
|
29
|
10
|
web
|
29
|
Citation Analysis
The two most cited articles during the past 10 years were in 2004 and 2005. The first, in 2004, was “The Role of Self-regulated Learning in Fostering Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Complex Systems with Hypermedia” and has been cited 209 times. The second, though most cited, was in 2005 and is titled “What Happens when Teachers Design Educational Technology? The Development of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” and is cited 319 times. There is a third that is close with 195 citations written in 2006 titled “Computer Gaming and Interactive Simulations for Learning: A Meta-analysis.”
Table 5. Most cited articles for each year, 2003-2012
Year
|
Title
|
Citations
|
Author
|
2003
|
How habitual online practices affect the development of asynchronous discussion threads
|
152
|
AMY L. BAYLOR
|
2004
|
The role of self-regulated learning in fostering students’ conceptual understanding of complex systems with hypermdia
|
209
|
ROGER AZEVEDO
|
2005
|
What happens when teachers design educational technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge
|
319
|
MATTHEW J. KOEHLER
|
2006
|
Computer gaming and interactive simulations for learning: A meta-analysis
|
195
|
JJ Vogel
|
2007
|
Adolescents' Use of Self-Regulatory Processes and Their Relation to Qualitative Mental Model Shifts While Using Hypermedia
|
71
|
Jeffrey Alan Greene
|
2008
|
Learning with laptops: A multi-method case study
|
56
|
D Grimes
|
2009
|
Using the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge framework to design online learning environments and professional development
|
48
|
A Doering
|
2010
|
Adding instructional features that promote learning in a game-like environment
|
36
|
RE Mayer
|
2011
|
Developing pre-service teachers' technology integration expertise through the TPACK-developing instructional model
|
23
|
JHL Koh
|
2012
|
Do One-to-One Initiatives Bridge the Way to 21st Century Knowledge and Skills?
|
4
|
Deborah L. Lowther
|
Table 6. Citations by Ranking
Title
|
Citations
|
Year
|
What happens when teachers design educational technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge
|
319
|
2005
|
The role of self-regulated learning in fostering students’ conceptual understanding of complex systems with hypermdia
|
209
|
2004
|
Computer gaming and interactive simulations for learning: A meta-analysis
|
195
|
2006
|
How habitual online practices affect the development of asynchronous discussion threads
|
152
|
2003
|
Adolescents' Use of Self-Regulatory Processes and Their Relation to Qualitative Mental Model Shifts While Using Hypermedia
|
71
|
2007
|
Learning with laptops: A multi-method case study
|
56
|
2008
|
Using the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge framework to design online learning environments and professional development
|
48
|
2009
|
Adding instructional features that promote learning in a game-like environment
|
36
|
2010
|
Developing pre-service teachers' technology integration expertise through the TPACK-developing instructional model
|
23
|
2011
|
Do One-to-One Initiatives Bridge the Way to 21st Century Knowledge and Skills?
|
4
|
2012
|
Author Analysis
From 2003 to 2012, the Journal of Educational Computing Research published 429 research articles authored by 923 different people. The most prevalent authors as determined by medal count publication points are shown in Table 5. Roy Clariana, who received 14 publication points in five papers, was determined to be the most prevalent author. Karen Swan, who received 13 publication points in six papers, was a close second, followed by Xun Ge, Albert Ritzhaupt, David Passig, and Roger Azevedo. All authors listed in the table published at least four papers and received at least 10 publication points in the years 2003-2012 of the Journal of Educational Computing Research.
Table 7. Journal Authorship by Medal Count Publication Points and Total Papers.
Author Names
|
Publication Points
|
Total Papers
|
Roy Clariana
|
14
|
5
|
Karen Swan
|
13
|
6
|
Xun Ge
|
12
|
5
|
Albert Ritzhaupt
|
12
|
5
|
David Passig
Roger Azevedo
|
11
10
|
4
4
|
Discussion
In reflecting on the overall findings of our analysis, we found that The Journal of Educational Computing Research primarily uses inferential-based articles in achieving its research goals. This methodology seems to align with the journal’s goal of investigating outcome effects of educational computing applications. By using an experimental or quasi-experimental approach, it seems that article authors are trying to establish an empirical basis for the efficacy of their designs. Such a goal may also be reflected in the second-highest used methodology, interpretive, with some authors taking a qualitative approach to computer-based education.
The journal’s focus on educational computing is also reaffirmed in our keyword analysis. Top EBSCO phrases such as “Computer Assisted Instruction” and “Computers in Education”, as well as abstract keywords “computer” and “technology” show that articles in the journal typically stay within its aims.
References
Journal of Educational Computing Research (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, from http://jrnledcompresearch.com/index.php/jecr/index
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