What’s the Difference, Still? A Follow up Methodological Review of the Distance Education Research
What’s the Difference, Still? A Follow up Methodological Review of the Distance Education Research
Author(s): Justus J. RandolphSubject(s): Review, Higher Education , Methodology and research technology, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Source Material
Published by: Vilniaus Universiteto Leidykla
Keywords: distance education; methodological review; research methodology;
Summary/Abstract: A high-quality review of the distance learning literature from 1992–1999 concluded that most of the research on distance learning had serious methodological flaws. This paper presents the results of a small-scale replication of that review. A sample of 66 articles was drawn from three leading distance education journals. Those articles were categorized by study type, and the experimental or quasi-experimental articles were analyzed in terms of their research methodologies. The results indicated that the sample of post-1999 articles had the same methodological flaws as the sample of pre-1999 articles: most participants were not randomly selected, extraneous variables and reactive effects were not controlled for, and the validity and reliability of measures were not reported.
Journal: Informatics in Education - An International Journal
- Issue Year: 6/2007
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 179-188
- Page Count: 10
- Language: English