A Systematic Review of the Methodological Issues Affecting the Findings on Social and Behavioural Traits of Gifted and Talented Students

Abstract

This systematic review aimed at identifying methodological issues which could affect the findings of research papers. Google Scholar was used for the identification of relevant papers. The identified papers were screened and selected using the PRISMA method. These procedures led to the final selection of 38 papers for this review. The most important methodological issues were sampling criteria for selecting gifted students, smaller sample sizes than the required minimum for valid statistical analysis, and not including proper controls like non-gifted students when giftedness is studied. In the case of teachers also similar problems were noted, but less frequently, as papers using teachers as participants were also few. In a few papers, pre-service teachers were used instead of using teachers experienced in gifted education. All the above and other methodological issues affect the validity, reliability, robustness and generalisability of findings in various ways. Researchers need to address these issues in their future work to avoid problems like limited applicability and generalisability due to low validity, reliability and robustness arising from methodological faults.