The Contribution of Master’s Theses to Educational Processes

Abstract

This research is a qualitative case study aiming to understand the contribution of master's theses prepared in the field of education by eight teachers and two school principals—selected via criterion sampling from 176 teachers and school principals who completed their master's with thesis between 2002 and 2022 and were serving in public schools in Düzce—to educational and administrative processes after these studies were presented to teachers and school principals. In the 2022-2023 academic year, Turkish, science, mathematics teachers, and school principals working in Düzce province attended the relevant presentations in groups of 30-40. The research data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews using an open-ended questionnaire from 20 participants who participated in the thesis presentations as listeners and were selected by the maximum variation sampling method. Expert opinion and assistance were sought in the preparation of the research questions. The collected data were transcribed from audio recordings, then content analysis was performed to identify codes, and similar codes were grouped under themes. It was concluded that the presented theses contributed to the development of understanding and to teaching/management processes. In line with the results obtained, recommendations were made to increase the practical contribution of master's theses.