The purpose of this study was to apply the research technique, content analysis, to the five most widely used United States high school history textbooks. The textbooks were investigated to obtain an objective, systematic, quantitative, and qualitative description of the textual content concerning the period of World War II.The population studied consisted of the five most widely used high school United States history textbooks. Three categories, people, events, and themes were researched in all five textbooks. Each of 126 specific items were coded from each textbook according to inclusion, frequency, magnitude, and direction. Jury validity was utilized, and three professional historians used as independent coders confirmed instrument reliability.Findings1. Events were included in a greater percentage than people or themes.2. American, British, and German political leaders were included more frequently than Russian, Italian, or Japanese leaders.3. Allied leaders were treated more favorably than the Axis leaders.4. The specific items were superficially treated with the textbook lacking indepth presentation of many specific items.Conclusions1. There exists a commonness and similarity among the most widely used United States history textbooks with a distinct lack of differences in that they generally present a series of chronological events and facts.2. The textbooks less than fully achieve the goals established for history courses by state and national organizations.3. Omissions, biases, inaccuracies, and distortions appear in the most widely used American history textbooks because of the forces of the mass market and apparent inadequate usage of current historiography.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/180776 |
| Date | 03 June 2011 |
| Creators | Siler, Carl R. |
| Contributors | Reak, Jack E. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vii, 179 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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