What's the Difference, Still? A Follow up Methodological Review of the Distance Education Research

A high quality review of the distance learning literature from 1992–1999 concluded that most of the research on distance learning had serious methodological flaws. This paper presents the results of a small-scale replication of that review. A sample of 66 articles was drawn from three leading distance education journals. Those articles were categorized by study type, and the experimental or quasi-experimental articles were analyzed in terms of their research methodologies. The results indicated that the sample of post-1999 articles had the same methodological flaws as the sample of pre-1999 articles: most participants were not randomly selected, extraneous variables and reactive effects were not controlled for, and the validity and reliability of measures were not reported. Key words: distance education, methodological review, research methodology.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: IIE
• Authors: Justus J. Randolph
• Keywords: Distance Education Journals, IIE 2007, Methodological flaws, Small-scale Replication