Selection of Featured Dissertations

To develop our list of featured rural mathematics education dissertations, we searched UMI's Dissertation Abstracts International for doctoral dissertations in mathematics education accepted between 1985 and 2001, which we located using the following search strategy:

disdb(DAI) AND (abstract(rural) OR keyword (rural) OR title(rural)) AND subject(mathematics) AND subject(education)

That is to say, we located abstracts of dissertations in which the word "rural" appeared anywhere in the abstract or title or as a keyword, within only those records indexed with the subject words "mathematics" and "education." This search strategy yielded a substantially larger set of records (117) than did a strategy using "mathematics" and "education" as keywords.  (See below for information on 2005 update.)

Among this set, we were most interested to identify those records which seemed to suggest that a dissertation represented a substantive overlap of the fields of mathematics education and rural education. We expected that most records would not meet our criteria.

To select the most germane dissertations, we rated their author-developed abstracts on the following characteristics:

1. overall methodological adequacy (commensurate question, methods, and conclusions)
2. overall importance (sufficiently large sample or exploration of 'big ideas')
3. extent to which a rural question guided the research
4. extent to which rural issues appeared in the findings
5. presence or absence of locale comparison (e.g., rural versus non-rural)
6. "rural" appeared (or did not) in title or subject fields
7. "mathematics" appeared (or did not) in title or subject fields

The protocol we used permitted a highest rating of 23 and a lowest rating of 4. The range of actual ratings was 15 (minimum of 7, maximum of 21). We accepted dissertations rated 13 and higher-a liberal selection criterion, we felt.

With only 2 exceptions (each with a rating of 12), all the dissertations not accepted as germane reported only that rural schools (often only one or two rural schools) served as the site of the research. That is, the context was not a subject of inquiry in about 86% of the 117 dissertations. Only two considered rural context in framing questions, structuring methodology, or developing findings or interpretations (so far as could be judged by the abstracts).

The 117 dissertations seemed to represent a scale of rural concern from none to much:

1. rural as a convenience sample or accessible location--no implications for research question, research design, or research findings (85.5% of the 117)
   

2. rural versus other group(s) setting figured as an independent variable, sometimes of minor import, sometimes of major import (8.5% of the 117)

3. rural purposive sample - the research question and method aimed to develop broad (quantitative) or rich (qualitative) description of rural status; generally the literature review seemed to reflect or justify this intention, though conceptual development of rural-specific issues appeared limited (4.3% of the 117)

4. intensive rural investigation - in these studies (n=2) major conceptualization of rural issues, dilemmas, or problems seems evident; such studies may be qualitative or quantitative, rural-purposive, or based on locale comparisons (as in types 2 and 3)

The topics of these dissertations are quite varied and they do not - by any means - offer a concerted effort or significant insight into mathematics education in rural contexts. They attest, instead, to the very limited work accomplished so far.

Perhaps the most distressing information to emerge from this review is the frequency with which rural schools and districts serve as the setting for studies that appear to pay no attention to the context except to report that it was the context.  The most frequently considered context in these dissertations pertains to the institutions of schooling:  classrooms, schools, districts, and policy-making.  Out-of-school context (including policy context) seems more rarely represented. 

Finally, those who consult these dissertations must understand that their selection on the given criteria is not an indicator of worth. Some studies not selected might be better than the best among those that were selected. Our sole concern was to represent the overlap of mathematics education and rural education. The overlap is narrow, and shallow, however long or short the list made.  One last caveat:  We do not warrant the making of this list as the most valid or reliable, but only, and within sharp limits, as systematic.

In January 2005 we reviewed 16 additional dissertations defended in 2001 through 2004, discovered with precisely the same search criteria used initially.  Of these, two (2) were selected for our list of rural mathematics education dissertations.

One of dissertations was written by a recent advisee of Dr. Long.  That dissertation (Winters, 2003) was the most "rural intensive" dissertation among those defended during this more recent timeframe.

Although the general observations made in 2001 still apply in 2005, we expect that matters will change somewhat as the ACCLAIM cohorts begin defending their dissertations. 



Copies of dissertations may be obtained by addressing your request to ProQuest Information and Learning Company,
300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor,
MI 48106-1346 USA.
Telephone: (734) 761-7400;
Email: info@bellhowell.infolearning.com;
Web Site: http//www.bellhowell.infolearning.com.



updated 1.10.05 cbh