English abstract
The current study aimed to evaluate the methodological procedures in educational master's theses at Omani universities during the period (2013 - 2023). The study followed a descriptive evaluative approach, and a stratified random sample of (588) master's theses was selected from all Omani universities, representing 22% of the study population (2665) master's theses. The apparent validity of the tool was verified by presenting it to the reviewers, and the reliability of the raters was confirmed using the Holsti formula with a reliability coefficient. (0.93). The study reached a set of findings, the most important of which are: that the descriptive method was the most used at a rate of (75.3%), and that (20.7%) of the research utilized the experimental method. The results also indicated that (48.8%) of the descriptive research was survey-based, (36.8%) were correlational studies, (12.4%) were content analysis, and only (2.0%) employed the comparative descriptive method. The results showed that the most studied community was school students, accounting for 33.8%, followed by teachers at 25.9%. The most commonly used tool was the questionnaire at 41.7%, followed by psychological scales at 35.9%, and achievement tests at 20.7%. Regarding the sampling methods, the study indicated that 29.8% of the papers used simple random sampling, 17.0% used purposive sampling, and 14.3% used more than one method. The results also showed that the most commonly used statistical methods are simple basic methods at a rate of (50.7%), while (3.5%) of the research utilized advanced statistical methods. As for the degree of availability of scientific research criteria in the methodology of educational theses under evaluation, it has been achieved at a level of "available" in all Omani universities at a rate of 50%. The results also showed significant differences at the significance level of (0.05) in all criteria for evaluating methodological procedures in Omani universities, attributed to the specialization, and in all areas comprising the criteria, except for the criteria in the second area "community and sample." As for the type of university, the results showed noticeable differences in the mean averages among the four universities in the five areas.
Keywords: methodological procedures, educational master's theses, educational assessment, Omani universities.