What are we talking about? Analysis of journals in the field of educational technology

Editor's Notes

• #3: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #4: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #9: 122 research articles published by AJDE 2001-2010
• #14: Out of the 122 articles, there were a total of 258 authors, averaging 2.2 authors per paper. Authors who were published multiple times are shown in Table 5. Only one author, Dr. Peter K. Oriogun of the London Metropolitan University and the American University of Nigeria published more than two research articles during this time period, perhaps indicating that AJDE has more of an international audience than its name would suggest.
• #15: use of the Publish or Perish software (Harzing, 2011) - based on Google Scholar citations the American Journal of Distance Education had an average of 21.26 citations per paper for the period of 2001-2010—an average of almost 379 citations a year three important caveats: 1) Google Scholar counts many kinds of citations whose worth may be debatable, 2) like all scholarly databases it is not completely comprehensive, and 3) during many of these years, the difference in citation numbers between articles was very close, and will continue to fluctuate
• #17: Top ten topics in decade according to keywords from the educational resources information center ebsco database. Broad topics were removed from analysis such as instructional design and performance technology. Similar terms were combined, for example adult education is was combined with adult learning, continuing education, and andragogy.
• #18: The increase in higher education and decrease in work environment may be attributed to the Schwen, Kalma, and Evans 2006 article which called for new scholarship in HPT. (A framework for new scholarship in human performance technology). The increase in organizational development and intervention may indicate a trend toward organization-wide changes as opposed to individualized instruction.
• #19: 2 and 3 word phrases. Abstracts provide a much more specific set up phrases. Self-efficacy topped the phrase frequency, however did not show up in the ERIC keywords. We recommend that authors provide their own keywords if they want their specific purposes to be apparent when searched. NOT SHOWN. Training was the most frequent word with 216 mentions, these findings reinforce the notion that instruction is still the predominant technique for improving performance.
• #20: First 5 – Interpretive and Conceptual/Theoretical. From 2006 – 2010 there was over a 60% increase in the number of inferential articles published. 26% decrease in interpretive articles. An earlier content analysis by Marker, Huglin, and Johnsen (2006) from 2000 – 2005 showed an 18% increase in empirical research. PIQ editors call for more empirical articles (Cassidy and Medsker, 2003).
• #21: Score = 3 points 1 st , 2 points 2 nd , 1 point 3 rd and up. Table shows the top six authors in the journal. Top ten authors contributed 21% of the research articles reviewed.
• #22: 4.52 citations per paper average. 120.45 citations per year average. Google scholar citations. 30% of top cited articles focused on instructional design, 90% were collaborative.
• #23: 122 research articles published by AJDE 2001-2010
• #24: Stated Research Focus: a focus on research where the principal technology is the Internet, and subfields of distance education such as online learning, e-learning, distributed learning, asynchronous learning, and blended learning
• #25: Lee et al. (2004) noted a rising frequency of quantitative studies in distance education, a method they argued was “not yet held to the standards of experimental research in other fields of social science” (p. 239). They called for “a more critical examination of research methodology . . . that might involve more stringent application of research methods” (p. 240), and argued that “new research methodology and paradigms are needed to advance distance education research” (p. 239). Half a decade later, quantitative research is slowly increasing its weight among the published articles of AJDE , now comprising 24.6% of the articles, the second-highest method used (see Table 4), and methodological innovations seem to still be infrequent. The most frequently used methodology is survey-based research, the method used in more than one-quarter (26.2%) of the studies published by AJDE. With students dispersed geographically, survey research may often be the most convenient method. Even so, we may consider as a community of scholars whether we want survey research to be our primary research method? Or, rather, do we feel that other methods such as content analysis, qualitative or interpretative methods, and mixed methods might contribute more to our discussion? Qualitative methods, for example, were used for 11 articles in the first three years analyzed (2001-2003), but only 3 articles thereafter (2004-2010). If our field is moving away from qualitative methods, what are we gaining and what may be lost?
• #26: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #27: use of the Publish or Perish software (Harzing, 2011) - based on Google Scholar citations the American Journal of Distance Education had an average of 21.26 citations per paper for the period of 2001-2010—an average of almost 379 citations a year three important caveats: 1) Google Scholar counts many kinds of citations whose worth may be debatable, 2) like all scholarly databases it is not completely comprehensive, and 3) during many of these years, the difference in citation numbers between articles was very close, and will continue to fluctuate
• #28: 122 research articles published by AJDE 2001-2010
• #32: There is also a trend towards the use of more sophisticated statistical analysis in the latter half of the decade. Generalized linear models and multivariate methods replaced the earlier frequent use of t – test procedures.
• #33: In the 10 years studied, 66 of 510 authors (13%) had more than one article published by the journal, with an average of 1.9 authors per article.
• #36: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #37: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #38: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #41: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #42: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #43: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least
• #44: This is a screenshot from my list of journals --- showing we have over 314 at least