TRENDS IN THEORY-AND-RESEARCH-IN-SOCIAL-EDUCATION FROM 1973 TO 1997 -IMPLICATIONS FOR GOALS AND PROCESS

TRSE is used as a source of trends in social studies education inquiry over the past 25 years. There is a 60% - 30% balance between empirica l research and theory articles, and 10% split between research reviews and methodological works. Quantitative research dominated early, but has waned; qualitative research has increased. Curriculum, learning, a nd teaching studies are roughly equal, with a recent upsurge in teachi ng research. Curriculum-oriented inquiry is increasingly dominated by normative theory. Learning studies aim most at intellectual developmen t, with a recent focus on historical understanding. Teaching studies a re dominated by pedagogy and methods research, with a recent emphasis on teacher thinking and perspectives. Subject matter is seen as genera l social studies about 20% of the time, and as disciplines about 40%, most notably history and economics. TRSE has become more international in content and authorship. There is an increase in non-refereed mater ial, and the author urges editors to shift more space to refereed arti cles.