Decision-making skills in social studies: An examination of decision-making skills of seventh grade students

The aim of this research is to examine the decision-making skills of seventh grade students; according to the opinions of students, teachers and parents. The research was carried out in seven different secondary schools in the central district of Adıyaman province in the fall and spring terms of the 2020/2021 academic year. The study group of the research consists of 520 seventh grade students, eight social studies teachers and eight parents of the students in the study group. Convergent parallel desing was used in this research conducted with mixed method. Quantitative data of the study were collected with the Decision Making Skill Scale. Qualitative data for students Case-Based Decision Making Skill Activity Form, Daily Life Decision Making Skill Student Interview Form, for teachers Decision Making Skill Teacher Interview Form, for parents Decision-Making Skills Parent Interview Form were collected.In order to determine the decision-making skill levels of the students, descriptive analysis was used in the IBM SPSS 22.0 statistics program. For the purposes of the study, in order to determine whether the answers given to the scale differ according to the independent variables, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for independent samples from parametric analysis techniques in cases where the distribution was normal, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test were used in cases where the distribution was not normal. Content analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. Mixed method analysis was conducted to determine to what extent the quantitative and qualitative data confirm each other. According to the quantitative findings obtained from the research, it was concluded that the decision-making skill levels of the seventh grade students were high. It was concluded that there was no significant difference in terms of gender, number of siblings and maternal employment status. It was concluded that there was a significant difference according to the education level of the mother and the education level of the father, and this difference was in favor of undergraduate and higher education status of the mother and father. In this research, the MAXQDA program was used to analyze the data obtained from teacher, parent, student interviews and student activities. Categories and codes were determined from all interview expressions and activities uploaded to the MAXQDA program. It has been concluded that the students generally make decisions in situations that concern them, make limited decisions in the family and in the classroom, have difficulties in the decision process, and make their decisions in consultation with their parents and close friends. When students are faced with a decision-making situation; It was concluded that they had difficulties in identifying the problem, determining/evaluating the options, determining/evaluating the criteria and making a decision. According to the data obtained from the parents, it was concluded that they included their children in limited matters in the decisions taken in the family, and that their children did not use the decision-making process in their own decisions. According to the data obtained from the teachers, it was concluded that they included their students in limited subjects in the decisions taken in the classroom, that the students did not apply the decision-making process in their own decisions, and that they made dependent decisions based on consultation. According to the data obtained from the mixed method analysis, it was concluded that the quantitative results obtained from the students and the qualitative results did not confirm each other. In the decisions taken in the family, it was concluded that the quantitative findings obtained from the students and the findings obtained from the parents confirmed each other. In the decisions taken in the classroom, it was concluded that the quantitative findings obtained from the students and the qualitative findings obtained from the teachers confirmed each other. It was concluded that the quantitative results obtained from the students and the qualitative results obtained from the teachers did not confirm each other. It was concluded that the findings obtained from the students regarding the decision-making process and the findings obtained from the teachers' opinions did not confirm each other. It was concluded that the findings obtained from the students regarding the decision-making process and the findings obtained from the parents' opinions did not confirm each other. Based on these results, for decision-making skills; In-class observation-based research, general examinations for in-class applicability and decision-making skills for family observation; School, teacher, family cooperation, activities in the classroom can be given more space.