Content analysis of master's and doctoral theses conducted in Turkey between years 2006 and 2017 about chemistry teacher education

The aim of this study is to perform content analysis of master and doctoral theses that were published about chemistry teacher education in Turkey between 2006 and 2017 years. 36 master and 30 doctoral theses conducted in Gazi University, Dokuz Eylül University, Hacettepe University, Atatürk University, Middle East Technical University, Marmara University, Balıkesir University, Karadeniz Technical University, Selçuk University and Boğaziçi University were analyzed by using a criteria list. Criteria included gender of the author, chemistry subject studied, conceptual framework, size and type of the sample, nature and type of the research method, data collection tools and data analysis methods, and validity and reliability studies. Results of the study revealed that female researchers contributed more to both masters and doctoral theses than male researchers did. Chemistry pre-service teachers were the most studied sample group in both type of theses. In addition, qualitative research methods were preferred more in master's theses and qualitative research methods were mostly used in doctoral theses. While scales were the mostly used quantitative data collection tools in master and doctoral theses, t-test was the mostly used data analysis method. The most commonly used qualitative data collection tool was interviews and data analysis method was descriptive analysis. In doctoral theses, qualitative data were frequently collected with the help of interviews and content analysis was the most preferred method of analysis. Findings of the study were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were made. Key Words: Chemistry teacher education, master's thesis, doctoral thesis, content analysis