Assessing the Quality of Doctoral Dissertation Literature Reviews in Instructional Technology

Authors

Melynda Harrison Fitt, Utah State UniversityFollow
Andrew Walker, Utah State UniversityFollow
Heather Leary, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

4-2009

Abstract

Assessment of the doctoral dissertation literature review provides insight into a student’s preparation for future work as a researcher. In 2004, efforts to assess the quality of literature reviews in doctoral dissertations were pioneered by Boote & Beile. Their work represents an important response to the call for improved research skills among emerging scholars. The purpose of this study is to replicate their work in a focused area of educational research, specifically Instructional Technology, and to examine the inter-rater reliability of the rubric. The findings suggest that dissertation literature reviews in Instructional Technology show the same need for improvement as dissertation literature reviews from education as a whole. Potential avenues of research are identified as well as improvements for rubric.

Comments

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego, California in April 2009.

Recommended Citation

Fitt, M. H., Walker, A. E., Leary, H. M. (2009, April). Assessing the Quality of Doctoral Dissertation Literature Reviews in Instructional Technology. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.