Content Analysis of the Postgraduate Theses Based on Wood Anatomy in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines master’s theses and doctoral dissertations on wood anatomy in Turkey in terms of completion year, thesis type, titles of advisors, gender of authors and advisors, universities, subject area, related subjects, samples, stain, and name of wood species. Content analysis was carried out on the theses selected through criterion sampling. The research data were collected through document analysis and analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 program. Within the scope of the research, it was determined that 33 master’s theses and 17 doctoral dissertations, which were found in the thesis scanning center of Higher Education Council (YÖK) of Turkey, were completed in the field of wood anatomy between 1990 and 2022. According to the results, the first thesis indexed by YÖK belongs to 1990 and is master’s thesis, and theses were mainly conducted by female researchers. It was seen that the highest number of postgraduate theses were prepared in Karadeniz Technical University and Istanbul/Istanbul-Cerrahpaşa University. The most studied subject is wood anatomy with fiber morphology, and the most studied other subject is ecological wood anatomy. Both microscopic and macroscopic investigations were done, and most of the theses were only investigated by microscopically. The most used stain was safranin and theses were made on solid wood samples which were cut from the trees or woody plants. This study is very important for scientific developments and will reveal the missing points in the country and provide a vision for future studies.