Prestigious Psycho-Educational Research Published from 1910 to 1974: Types of Explanations, Focus, Authorship, and Other Concerns

Abstract

Seventy-eight empirical articles were randomly selected from among articles published by the American Educational Research Journal, The Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research from the initial publication of these journals through 1974. Data were extracted from each article on types of explanation, type of study, focus, authorship, external funding, affiliation of authors, number and type of subjects, and references. Results indicate that almost one-half of the studies yielded descriptions rather than explanations. Most of the explanations were empirical, as opposed to vitalistic or teleological, generalizations.