The State of Abstracts in Educational Research
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2016-06-08
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
F. Chris Curran, The State of Abstracts in Educational Research, AERA Open July-September 2016, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 1– 9 ,DOI: 10.1177/2332858416650168
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Abstract
Background: There is a well-documented divide between education research and practice. In 2004, Mosteller, Nave, and
Miech argued for a focus on the research abstract, particularly structured abstracts, to improve the translation of research
into practice. Since their call, no study has systematically examined the quality of abstracts in education research or the
degree to which structured abstracts are utilized.
Purpose: This study addresses two questions. First, what are the characteristics of the research abstracts required by journals
in the field of education research? Second, to what extent do research abstracts in the field of education research contain the
basic components of a research study?
Data: Original data are drawn from the top 150 education research journals. Data include the instructions to authors regarding
abstracts for each journal (n = 150) and a random sample of abstracts (n = 189).
Methods: Journal instructions and abstracts were coded. Codes included whether they were structured and whether they
included components of a research study, such as the data or findings.
Results: A nontrivial proportion of abstracts fail to include important components of a research study. More than one in three
lacked information regarding the background, and a similar proportion lacked information on conclusions. Over one quarter
omitted information regarding the data, and a similar proportion lacked information on methodology. Only 7% of the top 150
journals explicitly require a structured abstract.
Conclusions: The quality of abstracts in educational research could be improved. Suggestions for improving abstracts, such
as shifting toward structured abstracts, are offered.