Citation Context Analysis of Theory Use in Instructional Design and Technology Academic Articles ...

211 Pages·2016·1.04 MB·English

Citation Context Analysis of Theory Use
in Instructional Design and Technology Academic Articles

Wendy A. Gentry

Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in
Curriculum and Instruction

Barbara B. Lockee (Chair)
John K. Burton
Katherine S. Cennamo
Miriam B. Larson

October 12, 2016
Blacksburg, Virginia

Keywords: Citation Context Analysis (CCA), Theory Symbol, Theory, Typology, Bibliometrics,
Instructional Design and Technology (IDT), Discouse Analysis, Disciplinary Knowledge

Copyright © 2016, Wendy A. Gentry
Citation Context Analysis of Theory Use
in Instructional Design and Technology Academic Articles

Wendy A. Gentry

ABSTRACT
Citations allow researchers to define relationships across articles and develop arguments
by building on the work of others. This study explores citation of theory symbols in Instructional
Design and Technology (IDT) academic articles. The term theory symbol is used to define a
concept that, after its original publication, is subsequently incorporated by later writers through
citation. Exploring the citation history of the seminal publications makes it possible to trace
theory symbol use over time and thus to trace its dissemination in the field. A typology of theory
symbol use in IDT academic publication is developed through a citation context analysis (CCA)
of a sample of articles published in Educational Technology Research and Development (ETRD)
and its predecessor journals (1953–2012) which incorporate theory symbols through citation.
This analysis contributes to an understanding of how theory has shaped IDT disciplinary
knowledge and augments discourse analysis and bibliometrics by examining the context in which
theory is incorporated into academic publication.
Citation Context Analysis of Theory Use
in Instructional Design and Technology Academic Articles

Wendy A. Gentry

GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT
This study explores the citation of theory symbols in Instructional Design and
Technology (IDT) academic articles. A theory symbol is a concept that is included in a
publication deemed to be foundational to a theory’s creation or development and subsequently
incorporated by later writers through citation. Exploring the relationships between these cited
and citing documents, with specific attention to the content of prior work passed from one to the
other, makes it possible to trace the dissemination of theory symbols in the field and develop a
typology of theory symbol use in IDT academic publication. This process is called citation
context analysis (CCA) (Ritchie, 2008). A sample of articles published in Educational
Technology Research and Development (ETRD) and its predecessor journals (1953–2012) serves
as the foundation of the study. This analysis contributes to an understanding of how theory has
shaped IDT disciplinary knowledge by examining the context in which theory is incorporated
into academic publication. As Baskerville and Dulipovici (2006) argue, it is valuable to
understand the application of theory because theory is used to support research arguments,
methodology and in turn the development of other theories.
Dedication

This dissertation is dedicated to my husband,

Mike Gentry,

who has always supported me in pursuit of
my dreams. I love you.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... II
DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. IV
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... X
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... XI
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 
NEED FOR THE STUDY ................................................................................................................ 2 
PURPOSE STATEMENT OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................ 3 
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................................... 4 
RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................. 4 
KEY TERMS ................................................................................................................................ 5 
BENEFITS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................ 6 
CHAPTER 2 - REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................ 7 
A COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEM FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORING IDT DISCIPLINARY
KNOWLEDGE .............................................................................................................................. 7 
IDT DISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE OVERVIEW ............................................................................. 9 
Boundaries of IDT Disciplinary Knowledge ........................................................................ 9 
Discipline of IDT. .......................................................................................................... 9 
IDT disciplinary knowledge. ................................................................................... 10 
Components of Disciplinary Knowledge that Serve as a Foundation for a Typology of
Theory Symbol Use in IDT Academic Publication ............................................................. 11 
Discourse. .................................................................................................................... 11 
Discourse as a hierarchical structure. ...................................................................... 11 
Text dimension of discourse. .................................................................................. 13 
Discursive practice dimension of discourse. ........................................................... 13 
Social practice dimension of discourse. .................................................................. 14 
Citation. ....................................................................................................................... 14 
Citation as a boundary object. ................................................................................. 15 
Citation as a feedback mechanism. ......................................................................... 16 
Citation as argument. ............................................................................................... 17 
v
Theory. ........................................................................................................................ 18 
Theory as schemata. ................................................................................................ 18 
Theory as a network member. ................................................................................. 19 
Theory as argument. ................................................................................................ 20 
PRIOR RELATED RESEARCH THAT SUPPORTS A TYPOLOGY OF THEORY SYMBOL USE IN IDT
ACADEMIC PUBLICATION ............................................................................................................... 21 
Theory Context Studies ....................................................................................................... 21 
Theory context studies. ................................................................................................ 22 
Theory application context studies. ............................................................................. 22 
Citation Context Studies ..................................................................................................... 25 
Linking Bibliometrics ......................................................................................................... 26 
Relational bibliometrics. ............................................................................................. 26 
Related studies in IDT. ................................................................................................ 32 
RESEARCH GAP ........................................................................................................................ 33 
CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 35 
RESEARCH STUDY DESIGN ....................................................................................................... 35 
Step 1: Theory and Rationale ............................................................................................. 37 
Theories of focus. ........................................................................................................ 37 
Journal of focus. .......................................................................................................... 38 
Step 2: Conceptualization and Coding Scheme ................................................................. 39 
Variable/Typology Category 1: Theory symbol age. .................................................. 41 
Variable/Typology Category 2: Author and writer relation. ....................................... 41 
Variable/Typology Category 3: Citing article topic. ................................................... 41 
Variable/Typology Category 4: Multiplicity. .............................................................. 42 
Variable/Typology Category 5: Location of citation. ................................................. 43 
Variable/Typology Category 6: Citation clustering. ................................................... 43 
Variable/Typology Category 7: Citation integration. .................................................. 43 
Variable/Typology Category 8: Citation style. ........................................................... 44 
Variable/Typology Category 9: Theory symbol materialization. ............................... 44 
Step 3: Operationalization ................................................................................................. 48 
Step 4: Sampling Procedures ............................................................................................. 49 
vi
Seminal article sample. ................................................................................................ 49 
Step 1: Identify seminal publications ...................................................................... 49 
Step 2: Identify the seminal publications cited in ETRD. ....................................... 51 
Step 3: Select a sample of seminal publications cited in ETRD. ............................ 52 
Citation context sample. .............................................................................................. 52 
Step 5: Codebook ................................................................................................................ 53 
Step 6: Coding Procedures ................................................................................................. 54 
Reliability. ................................................................................................................... 55 
Validity. ....................................................................................................................... 55 
Step 7: Analyze and Report Results .................................................................................... 56 
Summary ............................................................................................................................. 57 
CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS ......................................................................................................... 58 
RQ1: WHICH PUBLICATIONS CITED IN ETRD QUALIFY AS SEMINAL, THAT IS, DEEMED TO BE
FOUNDATIONAL TO A THEORY’S CREATION OR DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME? ............................. 58 
Step 1: Identify Seminal Publications ................................................................................ 59 
References in ETRD to Books from 1953 to 2012. .................................................... 59 
Book sample selected for analysis ............................................................................... 60 
ETRD journal articles selected for analysis. ............................................................... 62 
Seminal publications selected for analysis by source. ................................................ 63 
Step 2: Identify Seminal Publications Cited in ETRD ........................................................ 63 
Seminal publications cited in ETRD. .......................................................................... 63 
Step 3: Select a Sample of Seminal Publications Cited in ETRD ...................................... 64 
Research Question 1 Response: Seminal publications cited in ETRD. ...................... 64 
RQ2: WHAT PATTERNS OF THEORY SYMBOL USE EMERGE WHEN REFERENCES IN ETRD TO
SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS ARE TRACED OVER TIME? .................................................................. 65 
Impact of Seminal Publications Over Time ........................................................................ 66 
Impact of Seminal Publication Journals Over Time .......................................................... 67 
Impact of Seminal Publication Sources .............................................................................. 68 
Research Question 2 Response: Patterns of theory symbol use over time ......................... 69 
RQ3: HOW CAN EMERGENT PATTERNS SUPPORT A TYPOLOGY OF THEORY SYMBOL USE IN IDT
ACADEMIC PUBLICATION? ........................................................................................................ 70 
vii
Citation Context Sample ..................................................................................................... 70 
Seminal Publication Knowledge Claims ............................................................................ 71 
Manifest and Latent Variable Coding ................................................................................ 71 
Manifest variable coding. ............................................................................................ 71 
Variable 1: Theory symbol age. .............................................................................. 71 
Variable 2: Author and writer relation. ................................................................... 73 
Variable 3: Citing article topic. ............................................................................... 73 
Variable 4: Multiplicity. .......................................................................................... 74 
Variable 5: Location of citation. ............................................................................. 74 
Variable 6: Citation clustering. ............................................................................... 75 
Variable 7: Citation integration. .............................................................................. 76 
Variable 8: Citation style. ........................................................................................ 76 
Variable 9: Theory symbol materialization. ............................................................ 77 
Reliability Test Findings .................................................................................................... 81 
RQ3 response: Patterns that Support a Typology of Theory Symbol Use ......................... 82 
CHAPTER 5 - DISCUSSION .................................................................................................... 85 
CONTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................ 86 
LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 90 
NEXT STEPS ............................................................................................................................. 91 
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................94
APPENDIX A: BIBLIOMETRIC STUDIES IN IDT .................................................................115
APPENDIX B: BOOK SAMPLE SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS .............................................124
APPENDIX C: SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS BY SOURCE ..126
APPENDIX D: TOP 20 SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS CITED IN ETRD BY CITATION
FREQUENCY (1953 – 2012) ......................................................................................................128
APPENDIX E: NUMBER OF REFERENCES TO TOP 10 SEMINAL PUBLICATION
JOURNALS .................................................................................................................................129
APPENDIX F: PER JOURNAL IMPACT OF SEMINAL PUBLICATION JOURNALS ........130
viii
APPENDIX G: NUMBER OF SEMINAL PUBLICATION REFERENCES IN
ETRD TO TOP 20 SOURCES ...................................................................................................131
APPENDIX H: PER SOURCE IMPACT OF SEMINAL PUBLICATION SOURCES ............132
APPENDIX I: ETRD ARTICLES CITING THE SAMPLE SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS ......133
APPENDIX J: CITATION CONTEXTS LINKING THE SAMPLE SEMINAL
PUBLICATIONS TO ETRD .......................................................................................................144
APPENDIX K: KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS IN SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS ............................195
APPENDIX L: TYPOLOGY OF THEORY SYMBOL USE AS APPLIED TO
A SAMPLE OF SEMINAL PUBLICATIONS CITED IN ETRD ..............................................200

ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Summary of Star and Griesemer’s Four Kinds of Boundary Objects ..............................16
Table 2 Characteristics of Theories ...............................................................................................25
Table 3 Recent CCA Studies Which Include the Extraction or Classification
of Cited Concepts ...........................................................................................................................30
Table 4 Typology of Knowledge Used in Citing ............................................................................32
Table 5 Manifest and Latent Variables/Typology Categories .......................................................40
Table 6 Categorizations from Recent CCA Studies Which Include the Extraction or
Classification of Cited Concepts ....................................................................................................45
Table 7 Codes for Variable 9, Theory Symbol Materialization .....................................................47
Table 8 Citation Details Logged During Coding ..........................................................................52
Table 9 Codebook for CCA ............................................................................................................53
Table 10 Outline of Research Questions, Data Analysis Methods and Outcomes ........................56
Table 11 Impact of Seminal Publications on ETRD in 15-Year Increments .................................66
Table 12 Variable 1: Seminal Publication Theory Symbol Age ....................................................72
Table 13 Variable 5: Location of Citation .....................................................................................75
Table 14 Variable 6: Citation Clustering Summary ......................................................................76
Table 15 Variable 9: Theory Symbol Materialization Frequency by Seminal Publication ...........77
Table 16 Variable 9: Theory Symbol Materialization Percentage by Seminal Publication ..........78
Table 17 Typology of Theory Symbol Use ...................................................................................84

x