WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH?

WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH?

WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? This report presents an analysis of data for research publications dated between 2011 2013 which have been captured in the IDP Database of Research on International Education. The data is presented in the following breakdowns: Keywords/topics of research Country focus Regional focus Publication type Research methods. Analysis focuses on both aggregate data (all years combined) and year-on-year trends, where they have been discerned. This report therefore provides a range of insights into the state of international education research over the last three years. IERN looks forward to preparing similar year-on-year trends analysis once full datasets are available for 2014 and beyond. WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 2

This is the first in a series of reports presenting data analysis from the IDP Database of Research on International Education It identifies trends in international education research between 2011 2013 Analysis prepared by the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) for its International Education Research Network (IERN) ABOUT THE IDP DATABASE The IDP Database of Research on International Education (IDP-DRIE) is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and contains details of more than 13,300 books, articles, conference papers and reports on various aspects of international education from Australia and abroad. The database houses records from 1990 onwards and has become recognised as a key resource for researchers, governments and international education practitioners around the world. Submission of suitable material is actively invited, on any aspect of international students, international student mobility, international educational exchange, study abroad, cross border education or trade in education services. idp.com/researchdatabase WHAT S IN THE DATABASE? Via its Cunningham Library, ACER sources information for the database from a number of different sources, including: publisher websites, catalogues and databases print and online journals and newsletter subscriptions journal table of contents alerts Google alerts word of mouth and submissions from authors tweets by international education researchers, writers, journalists, publishers and aficionados international education email lists library catalogues, and new publications awareness services. Some of the records in the database are drawn from work done for the Australian Education Index. As such, the database has comparatively strong coverage of Australian material. In addition, only English language materials are referenced in the database. For more information, contact ndrie@acer.edu.au WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 3

RECORD COUNT The IDP Database added a total of 2,511 records relating to research on international education published in 2011, 2012 and 2013. YEAR RECORD COUNT 2011 1,005 2012 760 2013 746 Unless specified as a year-on-year or trend analysis, data in this report is presented in aggregate, that is for the three years combined. KEYWORDS AND PHRASES The principal topics and subjects of research over this period have related to higher education, students and mobility. 3,831 separate keywords/phrases are recorded (multiple keywords are possible for each database record); however, 63% of these (2,417) are only used once or twice. In total, 34,320 keywords/phrases are recorded against the 2,511 records for the period (i.e. an average of 7.3 keywords/phrases per record). 21 keywords/phrases were used over 200 times each for the three years combined a total of 10,127 uses or 29.5% of all keywords/phrases used. Of these 21 keywords/phrases, the following table charts those keywords/phrases which have shown sustained year-on-year increases in usage ( ), decreases in usage ( ) and neutral or mixed performance ( ) 1 : KEYWORD / PHRASE TOTAL COUNT (2011 2013) TREND Higer education 1,530 International students 1,226 International education 845 Post-secondary education 609 Internationalisation 605 Study abroad 541 University students 437 Universities 340 Educational policy 338 Student attitudes 337 Student mobility 331 Globalisation 304 1 Given an unequal distribution of records for each year under analysis, year-on-year comparisons in this report are based on weighted average percentages rather than on raw data counts (unless otherwise noted). For the purposes of this analysis, countries/regions have been removed from this list of keywords/phrases. WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 4

KEYWORD / PHRASE TOTAL COUNT (2011 2013) TREND Case studies 253 Student experience 242 Educational markets 224 Interviews 216 English (Second language) 215 Cultural differences 200 Based on these keywords/phrases, the predominant focus of international education research over the last three years has centred on higher and post-secondary education. While much of this research has focused on students and their experiences and attitudes, a significant proportion also looks at educational policy and the broader concepts of internationalisation and globalisation. Frequency of Top 12 Keywords/Phrases (2011 2013) For the 12 keywords/phrases used over 300 times each in total (excluding countries/regions), the table above shows year-on-year shifts in their usage. Based on these data, there are continued trends for international education research to focus on international students and higher/post-secondary education, as well as study abroad and student mobility. Internationalisation is also increasingly a topic of research. Less important over time is research focused on universities, educational policy and globalisation. WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 5

COUNTRY FOCUS International education research focuses on a wide range of countries/regions around the world, although over half of this research relates to English-speaking countries. 142 separate countries and regions are recorded as the geographical focus of research; however, 35% of these countries/regions only feature once. 14 countries/regions feature more than 40 times in total. Geographical Focus by Country/Region (%) COUNTRY / REGION TOTAL COUNT (2011 2013) % Australia 804 25.4% USA 413 13.1% UK 296 9.4% China 182 5.8% Europe 120 3.8% Canada 115 3.6% Malaysia 80 2.5% New Zealand 71 2.2% India 71 2.2% Singapore 56 1.8% Hong Kong 56 1.8% Japan 53 1.7% Asia 47 1.5% United Arab Emirates 46 1.5% WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 6

Australia s predominance in the data is likely due to the Database being based in Australia and many records being directly sourced from the Australian Education Index. Analysis of year-on-year trends for countries/regions with greater than 100 records in total points to an increasing focus on the USA and the UK, with a drop for Australia. Research focused on China, Europe and Canada remains generally flat. Trends in Country Focus (2011 2013) WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 7

REGIONAL FOCUS Despite the dominant focus on English-speaking countries, a significant proportion of international education research looks at countries in the broader Asian region: 23.9% of all research has a focus on an Asian country or on the Asian region. Note: in this analysis Asia incorporates all countries in North East, South East, South, and East Asia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region. This regional analysis is manually derived from country/ region of focus in the IDP Database. Geographical Focus by Region (%) This percentage has remained relatively unchanged from year to year: CONTINENT 2011 2012 2013 Asia 24.5% 24.7% 22.1% WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 8

International education research has a much more limited focus on Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, with just under 10% of all research focusing on these regions combined. Few distinct shifts in regional focus can be identified over the period 2011 2013. A decrease in the percentage of research focussing on Oceania is offset by slight increases for Europe and North America. These changes may reflect modulations in access to records for inclusion in the IDP Database, rather than substantive shifts in geographical focus. Trends in Regional Focus (2011 2013) WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 9

PUBLICATION TYPE The publication of choice for international education research is the journal article: 49.3% of all international education research is published in journal articles. The next most popular avenues for publication are book chapters (16.3%) and research reports (15.1%) respectively. 80.8% of all international education research is published in journal articles, book chapters or research reports. Publication Type Trends in Publication Type (2011 2013) Journal articles have shown continued growth from 2011 2013, while all other publication types are flat or in decline over this period: WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 10

Journal Articles International education research is fundamentally interdisciplinary and the large proportion of research in journal articles is published in 420 separate journals. However, 376 of these journals (89.5%) feature 5 or fewer papers. The leading journal of publication in international education research is the Journal of Studies in International Education. Journals with 20 or more articles are below: JOURNAL TITLE TOTAL COUNT (2011 2013) % OF ALL JOURNAL ARTICLES Journal of Studies in International Education 84 6.3% International Higher Education 48 3.6% International Educator 36 2.7% Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 34 2.6% Higher Education 30 2.3% Journal of International Students 25 1.9% Frontiers : The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 23 1.7% Higher Education Research & Development 22 1.7% Journal of the European Higher Education Area 21 1.6% Journal of Research in International Education 21 1.6% Globalisation, Societies and Education 20 1.5% Of the top 5 journals of publication in total, the Journal of Studies in International Education and the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management have shown consistent growth: JOURNAL TITLE 2011 2012 2013 Journal of Studies in International Education 25 24 35 International Higher Education (Boston College) 13 22 13 International Educator (NAFSA) 15 13 8 Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 9 9 16 Higher Education 12 11 7 Looking at 2013 alone, the top 5 journals of publication were: JOURNAL TITLE 2013 Journal of Studies in International Education 35 Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 16 International Higher Education (Boston College) 13 Journal of International Students 13 Studies in Higher Education 12 WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 11

Books With six publications, the US-based Institute of International Education is the leading publisher of books focused on international education research. Book publishers with 3 or more publications are below: BOOK PUBLISHER COUNT % OF ALL BOOKS Institute of International Education 6 5.6% Palgrave Macmillan 5 4.7% Sense Publishers 4 3.7% Multilingual Matters 4 3.7% ACER Press 3 2.8% Cambridge Scholars 3 2.8% Information Science Reference 3 2.8% Springer 3 2.8% Lemmens 3 2.8% 55.2% of books are attributed to publishers which feature only once in the data. Research Reports Research reports are released by 199 separate publishers, with the largest number of reports generated by the UK (British Council), USA (Institute of International Education) and Australia (various bodies). Publishers which have released four or more reports are listed below: RESEARCH REPORT PUBLISHER COUNT Education Intelligence, British Council 24 Institute of International Education, USA 16 Australian Trade Commission 13 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia 13 Australian Education International 8 British Council 8 Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) 6 Education New Zealand 6 NUFFIC, Netherlands 6 Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley 5 NAFSA 5 World Education Services 5 IELTS Australia 5 Hanover Research 4 Observatory on Borderless Higher Education 4 WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 12

RESEARCH METHODS Research in international education is undertaken in both qualitative and quantitative paradigms, with a preference for qualitative research methods. One fifth of all research involves case studies, whilst 17.6% involves interviews. Surveys, student surveys, questionnaires and statistical analysis (combined) make up 26.5% of all research methods. Research methods featuring in 20 or more instances are listed below: RESEARCH METHOD COUNT % OF TOTAL Case studies 245 20.6% Interviews 209 17.6% Surveys 127 10.7% Student surveys 73 6.1% Questionnaires 73 6.1% Comparative analysis 54 4.5% Literature reviews 48 4.0% Statistical analysis 43 3.6% Qualitative research 29 2.4% Focus groups 29 2.4% Longitudinal studies 27 2.3% Policy analysis 20 1.7% Case studies and comparative analysis have increased in popularity from 2011 to 2013. Other popular research methods in international education research, including interviews, surveys, questionnaires and literature reviews, have all shown declines. Trends in Research Method (2011 2013) WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 13

MORE INFORMATION More information about the IDP Database is available online at www.idp.com/researchdatabase. An Advanced Search function enables detailed database queries by: Keyword Title Author Organisation Subject Year Document type Subject country, and Country of origin. Automatically generated reports are also available by country/state, organisation and journal title. Database updates Follow @IDPDRIE on Twitter for a live feed of recent releases. Subscribe online to the IDPDRIE email list to receive brief monthly announcements of updates to the database. Alternatively, email ndrie@acer.edu.au and ask to receive notification when new material is added (see Privacy statement). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Data analysis and report compiled by Douglas Proctor (IEAA Research Committee) with assistance from Peter Muntz (IEAA Secretariat). With thanks to Chris Ziguras (IEAA Vice-President), Lyndell Jacka (Head of Research, IDP Education Pty Ltd) and Stuart Hughes (Senior Librarian, Cunningham Library, ACER). WHAT S HOT IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH? 14

Contact us IEAA Secretariat PO Box 12917 A Beckett Street Melbourne VIC 8006 Australia +613 9925 4579 admin@ieaa.org.au ieaa.org.au