An Investigation of Doctoral Dissertation Abstracts Written Between 2010-2017 in Turkey

Abstract

This case study, based on qualitative research, aims to examine the doctoral dissertation abstracts written between 2010-2017. Therefore, in education, 3463 doctoral dissertations abstracts were accessed through Turkey's National Thesis Center website. The researchers developed an abstract review form. Each dissertation abstract was examined independently by two experts. Abstracts were examined by using the document analysis method. While almost all abstracts included aims and findings, most of them did not mention sample and data collection tools. However, a number of abstracts included data collection and sampling methods, and few abbreviations and references were used. The number of doctoral dissertations did not differ significantly regarding gender over the years. In conclusion, it is observed that there is insufficient information regarding dissertation abstracts, especially in method. The differences in dissertation abstracts, not only between university programs but also within universities, make it difficult to obtain an idea of the dissertations. In institutes' dissertation writing guides, the abstracts should be expressed in a new standard national template by considering the required qualifications.