DOCUMENT RESUME ED 482 897 CS 510 781 Knudson, Ruth E.; Theurer, Joan Leikam; Boyd-Batstone, Paul AUTHOR A Decade of Literacy Research in the "Journal of Educational TITLE Research". 2002-01-00 PUB DATE NOTE 42p. Information Analyses (070) PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative (142) EDRS Price MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Content Analysis; Elementary Education; Higher Education; DESCRIPTORS *Literacy; *Research Methodology; *Scholarly Journals; *Scholarship *Journal of Educational Research IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT A total of.378 articles were published in the "Journal of Educational Research" from 1990-1999. Ninety-seven (26%) focused on literacy. Information was categorized for each article with respect to authors' gender, multiple versus single authorship, study design, use of statistics, age of subjects, number of subjects, and kind of research. There was no significant trend by year for the number of articles published by sole vs. multiple authors or by men, women, or male/female co-authors. More than 70% of the articles had multiple authors. There was no significant trend by year for design of study, statistics used, or number of subjects in the study. There was, however, a trend away from applied research after 1996. There were no applied research studies published 1997-1999 while approximately one literacy-focused applied research article a year was published 1991-1996. There was also some movement away from studies with "n" larger than 1000-from 1995 through 1999. The total number of articles focused on literacy decreased from 1996. The average number of articles published with a literacy focus 1990-1995 was 12.38. The average number 1996-1999 was 5.75. With respect to design, approximately 50% of the articles published were experimental while 22% were correlational and 21% were descriptive. Approximately 36% of the articles used ANOVA, 20% used correlation including multiple regression, 17% used descriptive statistics including percentages and frequencies, and 13% used other multivariate techniques such as MANOVA. The remaining articles employed path analysis, M/ANOVA with multiple regression, Yates' algorithm, Fifty-four percent of the chi square, factor analysis, or no statistics (4%) . articles had elementary school subjects, 15% high school subjects, 14% multiple-age subjects (often children and their parents and/or teachers), 5% middle school subjects, 4% college students, 5% other adults, and 2% no human subjects. (Contains 6 tables of data and 99 references.) (Author/RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. A Decade of Literacy Research A Decade of Literacy Research in the Journal of Educational Research Submitted January 2002 Submitted by: Ruth E. Knudson, Ph.D., Joan Leikam Theurer, Ph.D., and Paul Boyd-Batstone, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach College of Education 1250 Bellflower Boulevard Long Beach, CA 90840 PHONE: (562) 985-1690 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EMAIL: [email protected] DfSSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY E. ItilikSsovi TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) CI This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. U Minor changes have been made to e-4 improve reproduction quality. ° Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAIABLE A Decade of Literacy Research Abstract Threetiundred seventy-eight articles were published in JER from 1990-1999. Ninety-seven (26%) focused on literacy. information was categorized for each article with respect to authors' gender, multiple versus single authorship, study design, use of statistics, age of subjects, number of subjects, and kind of research. There was no significant trend by year for the'number of articles published by sole vs. multiple authors or by men, women, or male/female co-authors. More than 70% of the articles had multiple authors. There was no significant trend by year for design of study, statistics used, or number of subjects in the study. There was, however, a trend away from applied research after 1996. There were no applied research studies published 1997-1999 while approximately one literacy-focused applied research article a year was published 1991-1996. There was also some movement away from studies with n larger than 1000 from 1995-on. The total number of articles focused on literacy decreased from 1996. The average number of articles published with a literacy focus1990-1995 was 12.38. The average number 1996-1999 was 5.75. With respect to design, approximately 50% of the articles published were experimental while 22% were correlational and 21% were descriptive. Approximately 36% of the articles used ANOVA, 20% used correlation including multiple regression, 17% used descriptive statistics including percentages and frequencies, and 13% used other multivariate techniques such as MANOVA. The remaining articles employed path analysis, M/ANOVA with multiple regression, Yates' algorithm, chi square, factor analysis, or no statistics (4%). Fifty-four percent of the articles had elementary school subjects, 15% high school subjects, 14% multiple-age subjects (often children and their parents and/or teachers), 5% middle school subjects, 4% college students, 5% other adults, and 2% no human subjects. A Decade of Literacy Research A Decade of Research in the Journal of Educational Research The Journal of Educational Research is rated as one of the top journals in education in almost survey taken. It stands the tests of rigor, significance of studies, and circulation. Approximately one fourth (97 of 378 articles) of its content focuses on literacy 1990-1999. This is an important point because a review of two other general education journals, namely the Journal of Research and Development in Education (JRDE) and the Journal of Experimental Education (JEE), demonstrates that about 15% of their contents are on literacy-related topics. JER also publishes more articles (378 vs. 246/JEE) than many other journals over a ten-year period_ Since JER publishes more articles than other journals and a higher Percent of its content focuses on literacy, it is a very important source of work on literacy-related topics. The purpose of this article is to identify trends in JER 1990-1999 and to describe its contents in terms of single vs multiple authors, focus of the study, design, statistics used if any, age of subjects, number of subjects, applied versus basic research, and gender of authors. Methods and/or Techniques Two university, faculty, each with a Ph.D. with a literacy focus, who are also credentialed public school teachers, read every abstradt in JER, 1990-1999. Each separately decided if the article focused on literacy and should be included in the study. They agreed on 91% of the articles after reading the abstracts. The other 9% were included/excluded following their discussion. Collectively, the researchers defined literacy and applicable abstracts as those dealing with some aspect of reading, writing, and speaking with subjects who were students in kindergarten through graduate school. After discussion, they included articles with adults (non-students, parents and/or teachers of children in the study) and those with no human subjects such as reviews of research on handwriting. 3 4 A Decade of Literacy Research Following the work of Nelson and Coorough (1994), the following information was identified and categorized by two of the researchers on each study: 1)gender of authors; 2)multiple versus single authorship; 3) design of study (e.g., experimental, descriptive, correlational, analytical, program evaluation, historical, and qualitiative;4) statistics (e.g., ANOVA model, frequencies and percentages, correlation, nonparametric, rnultivariate, and no statistics; 5) age of subjects; 6) number of subjects; and 7) type of research (basic versus applied). If the researchers could not obtain the information from the abstracts, the entire article was used. Two researches also categorized information pertaining to the topic(s) of the studies. They agreed on 97% of the categories; the other 3% were decided through discussion. Data Source The data source was the abstracts from the articles, 1990-1999. The articles themselves were used when necessary. Results and/or Conclusions Three hundred seventy-eight articles Were published in the Journal of Educational Research, 1990-1999. Ninety-seven of the articles focused on literacy. The number of articles focusing on literacy is presented in Table 1 by year. Approximately two-thirds of Insert Table 1 here. the articles were published in the first half of the decade. There is a noticeable decline in the number of articles published on literacy after 1996. Twenty-seven (28%) of the articles were single-authored and 70 (72%) of the Insert Table 2 here. articles were co-authored. Thirty-three (34%) were authored by men, 26 (27%) by women, and A Decade of Literacy Research 38 (39%) had male and female co-authors. There was no significant trend by year concerning the number of articles published by men, women, or male-female co-authors. Insert Table 3 here. There were no changes in predominant approaches to design during the decade, which is depicted in Table 4. Forty-eight (49%) of the articles were experimental in design, 21 (22%) correlational, 17 (18%) descriptive, 5 (5%) experimental/correlational, 2 (2%) historical, 3 (3%) qualitative, and 1 (1%) descriptive/correlational. More studies used ANOVA (35136%) than Insert Table 4 here. any other statistical technique, 19 (20%) used correlation, including multiple regression, 16 (16%) used descriptive statistics, 12 (12%) used multivariate techniques (primarily MANOVA), 5 (5%) used M/ANOVA with regression, 2 (2%) used chi square, 1 (1%) used path analysis, 1 (1%) used Yates' algorithm, 1 (1%) used factor analysis, and 4 (4%) used no statistics. The majority of the studies focused on elementary school-age children (52, 54%), 15 (15%) on high school students, 14 (14%) on multi-age groups, 5 (5%) on middle school, 5 (5%) on adults, 4 (4%) on college students, and 2 (2%) had no human subjects. Fourteen (14%) studies had 0-25 subjects, 11 (11%) had 26-50, 13 (13%) had 51-75, 15 (15%) had 76-100, 11 (11%) had 101-150, 10 (10%) had 150-200, 15 (15%) had 200-1000, and 6 (6%) had more than 1000 subjects. Two studies did not have human subjects and one article did not report the number of subjects. The articles had primarily one focus. If there were multiple foci, articles were categorized for each focus. See Table 5. There were 21 articles on some aspect of writing, Insert Table 5 here. 14 on reading strategies, 10 on beliefs and attitudes, 9 on content area reading, 8 on reading A Decade of Literacy Research comprehension, 7 on literature-based reading, 7 on special populations, and 6 technology-related. Other topics occurred less frequently. The significant findings from each study are given in Table 6. Insert Table 6 here. In conclusion, who we are and what we study are important to know, not only historically, but also to note trends, patterns, and descriptions of our work. The 1990s have seen a revival of interest in standardized testing, in standards-based instruction, in student achievement, and in teachers' competence. We note that no one topic, design, or age group totally dominates the field as published in JER However, there are more popular designs, subject pools, and topics. An analytic appraisal tells us that we are working together on our research, using several statistical techniques to interpret our findings, designing our studies with multiple techniques in mind, and focusing on the school-age population, most noticeably the younger children. Large-scale studies are less common at the end of the 1990's, an interesting fact. Also interesting, and disturbing to those interested in literacy research, is the decline in the number and percentage of articles focused on literacy throughout the decade. We do not think there are new, additional outlets. We are concerned that there is actually less research published and hope this trend does not continue. We would interpret much of this data as favorable, namely male and female co-authors, multiple techniques and designs, and several subject pools. However, the decline in the number of articles published focused on literacy is a concern to those of us who focus on this very important topic. A Decade of Literacy Research References Alexander, J.C. (1998). Reading skill and context facilitation: A classic study revisited. Journal of Educational Research, 91 (5), 314-318. Allred, R.A. (1990). Gender differences in spelling achievement in grades 1 through 6. Journal of Educational Research, 83 (4), 187-193. Alvermann, D.E., Hynd, C.E., and Qian, G. (1995). 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