Background Textbooks shape the content and structure of most introductory psychology courses. It is important to compare the content of textbooks to assist educators in making the best textbook choice. Objective The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of five commonly used introductory psychology textbooks and examine the extent of overlap in their content coverage. Method Two trained readers identified 3878 key terms after performing a page-by-page content analysis. Commonality among texts was assessed by determining how many textbooks included each term. Results Coverage of psychology topics differed significantly across textbooks with 2766 terms (71%) unique to a single textbook. There were 494 terms (163%), 263 terms (73%), and 201 terms (5%) appearing in two, three, and four books, respectively. Only 154 terms (4%) were common to all five. Conclusion Given our results and how reliant course instructors are on textbooks, it appears introductory psychology students may not be exposed to similar vocabulary. Teaching Implications Introductory psychology textbooks may be similar at a chapter and topic level but do not share as much specific content as may be commonly believed. Instructors should take the time to check if the content matches course goals and expectations.
The content and structure of introductory psychology courses are heavily influenced by the instructor’s choice of textbook, and introductory psychology textbooks can vary widely in the specific subject material included. Consequently, students using different textbooks may not be exposed to similar content. When undergraduate readers performed a page-by-page content analysis of five popular introductory psychology textbooks, there was very little observed overlap in key term use across these five texts (Slade & Gurung, 2022). The present study replicated and expanded the previous content analysis. We used a graduate student reader to determine if a reader with additional expertise would identify more overlapping terms. We also included a more exhaustive list of chapter topics and terms which the previous study had not considered. Additionally, we used qualitative software to provide a more robust analysis. Despite these improvements in methodology, our results confirmed a lack of commonality in key term usage across these same five introductory psychology textbooks. Out of a total of 3,939 unique key terms identified, 2,697 terms (68%) were unique to a single textbook. There were 535 terms (13%), 287 terms (7%), and 235 terms (6%) appearing in two, three, and four books, respectively. Only 185 terms (5%) were common to all five. This replication confirms previous findings that introductory psychology textbooks may not share as much specific content as is commonly believed. We discuss limitations and specific future directions.
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