Bibliometric analysis has become an extremely popular research method with the dramatic increase in scientific publications and other textual and numerical online data. Using bibliometric analysis in combination with qualitative content analysis, it is possible to discover important characteristics of scientific articles and to gain insights into the progress of other researchers’ work, scientific trends, most cited authors, the relationships between keywords recurring in publications, and other important parameters of scientific texts. Our study aims to explore the topic of virtual reality in education using bibliometric analysis of scientific publications with the aid of visualization tools and keyword co-occurrence analysis. The WoS and Scopus databases were chosen because of their popularity and wide use in bibliometric studies. Data from 2012 to 2022 were collected and analyzed using the search query “School” OR “University” as the topic AND “Virtual Reality” as author keywords, with a focus on journal articles and no restriction on the scientific field. A qualitative content analysis of the ten most cited articles was also done. We found that since 2016, there has been an intense growth of publications on this topic. Four main themes have emerged in research on virtual reality in education over the last decade: research on virtual reality technologies and innovative solutions for education, research on the impact of virtual reality on learners of different ages, research on the adaptation of learning materials to virtual reality, and research on learning with virtual reality. The results of the qualitative content analysis revealed the main topics of the most cited publications. The bibliometric analysis provides insights into the diversity of research on the chosen topic. These insights allow researchers and practitioners to understand virtual reality's landscape in education better and choose less explored areas when planning their new research. This study also demonstrates the combination of bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis methods.
Bibliometric Analysis of Virtual Reality in School and University Contexts
Filomena Faiella
2023-01-01
Abstract
Bibliometric analysis has become an extremely popular research method with the dramatic increase in scientific publications and other textual and numerical online data. Using bibliometric analysis in combination with qualitative content analysis, it is possible to discover important characteristics of scientific articles and to gain insights into the progress of other researchers’ work, scientific trends, most cited authors, the relationships between keywords recurring in publications, and other important parameters of scientific texts. Our study aims to explore the topic of virtual reality in education using bibliometric analysis of scientific publications with the aid of visualization tools and keyword co-occurrence analysis. The WoS and Scopus databases were chosen because of their popularity and wide use in bibliometric studies. Data from 2012 to 2022 were collected and analyzed using the search query “School” OR “University” as the topic AND “Virtual Reality” as author keywords, with a focus on journal articles and no restriction on the scientific field. A qualitative content analysis of the ten most cited articles was also done. We found that since 2016, there has been an intense growth of publications on this topic. Four main themes have emerged in research on virtual reality in education over the last decade: research on virtual reality technologies and innovative solutions for education, research on the impact of virtual reality on learners of different ages, research on the adaptation of learning materials to virtual reality, and research on learning with virtual reality. The results of the qualitative content analysis revealed the main topics of the most cited publications. The bibliometric analysis provides insights into the diversity of research on the chosen topic. These insights allow researchers and practitioners to understand virtual reality's landscape in education better and choose less explored areas when planning their new research. This study also demonstrates the combination of bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis methods.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
