textbook-analysis
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- PaperEdArXiv (OSF Preprints)20 Jul 2026
Beyond the Average: Analyzing Heterogeneity and Latent Profiles of Cognitive Involvement in Iranian Senior High School Sociology Textbooks
Hossein Talebzadeh
This study analyzed cognitive involvement in Iranian high school sociology textbooks, revealing three latent profiles: fully passive (35.3% of lessons), hyper-active, and a persistent mismatch between passive text and demanding end-of-chapter tasks. The findings highlight the need for structural alignment between content and assessment in textbook design.
Original abstract
Previous evaluations of school textbooks have predominantly focused on aggregate overall averages, thereby overlooking critical intra-textbook heterogeneity. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of cognitive involvement and assess the instability of instructional design within Iranian senior high school sociology textbooks. Utilizing a secondary data analysis of datasets derived from the Comparative Adjudication Protocol (CAP)—encompassing 51 lessons across 4 core textbooks (Sociology 1, Sociology 2, Sociology 3, and Civic Identity)—cognitive involvement indices for text, images, and questions were calculated using the William Romey (1968) method. To quantify internal heterogeneity, the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Levene's test were utilized, while K-means clustering with Euclidean distance (Hair et al., 2010) was employed to uncover latent profiles. The findings revealed that the Sociology 2 textbook exhibited the highest textual irregularity (CV = 122.45%), whereas the Civic Identity textbook possessed the most uniform text structure (CV = 36.52%). Levene's test confirmed no statistically significant difference in variances across the textbooks for any component (p > 0.05), indicating a more structurally homogeneous design across sociology textbooks compared to history textbooks. However, cluster analysis uncovered three distinct structural profiles, revealing that 35.3% of the analyzed lessons fell into a "fully passive" cluster, while 21.6% were classified as "hyper-active." These findings demonstrate that while sociology textbooks exhibit lower overall heterogeneity than history textbooks, a persistent question-text disjuncture remains—where end-of-chapter tasks demand high analytical engagement while the textual content remains predominantly passive. Consequently, future curricular interventions must prioritize structural alignment between narrative content and assessment tasks, alongside variance reduction across grade levels.
- PaperEdArXiv (OSF Preprints)20 Jul 2026
Beyond the Average: Analyzing Heterogeneity and Latent Profiles of Cognitive Involvement in Iranian Senior High School History Textbooks
Hossein Talebzadeh
This study analyzes latent profiles of cognitive involvement in Iranian senior high school history textbooks, revealing significant internal heterogeneity. The History 3 textbook showed the highest instructional irregularity, while only 11.5% of lessons were structurally balanced. The findings suggest that reducing content variance is more critical than raising average cognitive involvement.
Original abstract
Previous evaluations of school textbooks have predominantly focused on aggregate overall averages, thereby overlooking critical intra-textbook heterogeneity. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of cognitive involvement and assess the instability of instructional design within Iranian senior high school history textbooks. Utilizing a secondary data analysis of datasets derived from the Comparative Adjudication Protocol (CAP)—encompassing 61 lessons across 4 core textbooks—cognitive involvement indices for text, images, and questions were calculated using the William Romey (1968) method. To quantify internal heterogeneity, the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Levene’s test were utilized, while K-means clustering with Euclidean distance (Hair et al., 2010) was employed to uncover latent profiles. The findings revealed that the History 3 textbook exhibited the highest instructional irregularity ("CV"=144.50% in the question component), whereas the Contemporary History of Iran textbook possessed the most uniform structure ("CV"=81.58%). Levene’s test confirmed a statistically significant difference in variances across the textbooks specifically within the question component (p<0.01). Furthermore, cluster analysis uncovered four distinct structural profiles, revealing that a meager 11.5% of the analyzed lessons fell into a structurally "balanced" cluster. These findings demonstrate that internal content dispersion, particularly in higher grade levels, poses a more severe pedagogical challenge than low average involvement. Consequently, future curricular interventions must prioritize variance reduction over a simple inflation of baseline averages.
- PaperEdArXiv (OSF Preprints)20 Jul 2026
Beyond the Average: Analyzing Heterogeneity and Latent Profiles of Cognitive Involvement in Iranian Junior High School Social Studies
Hossein Talebzadeh
This study analyzed cognitive involvement heterogeneity in Iranian junior high school social studies textbooks using the William Romey method and cluster analysis. Three latent profiles were identified: Active-Question Dominant, Fully Passive, and Hyper-Active, with Grade 7 showing extreme textual irregularity. The findings highlight a mismatch between passive textual content and demanding assessment tasks, suggesting a need for structural alignment.
Original abstract
Previous evaluations of school textbooks have predominantly focused on aggregate overall averages, thereby overlooking critical intra-textbook heterogeneity. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of cognitive involvement and assess the instability of instructional design within Iranian junior high school social studies textbooks. Utilizing a secondary data analysis of datasets derived from the Comparative Adjudication Protocol (CAP)—encompassing 44 lessons across 2 core textbooks (Social Studies Grade 7 and Social Studies Grade 8)—cognitive involvement indices for text, images, and questions were calculated using the William Romey (1968) method. To quantify internal heterogeneity, the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Levene's test were utilized, while K-means clustering with Euclidean distance (Hair et al., 2010) was employed to uncover latent profiles. The findings revealed that the Social Studies Grade 7 textbook exhibited the highest textual irregularity (CV = 186.84%), whereas the Social Studies Grade 8 textbook demonstrated more moderate text heterogeneity (CV = 134.78%). Levene's test confirmed a statistically significant difference in text variances across the two textbooks (p = 0.028), indicating that Grade 7 social studies is structurally more fragmented than Grade 8. However, cluster analysis uncovered three distinct structural profiles, revealing that 50.0% of the analyzed lessons fell into an "Active-Question Dominant" cluster, while 31.8% were classified as "Fully Passive" and 18.2% as "Hyper-Active." These findings demonstrate that middle school social studies textbooks—particularly at Grade 7—exhibit extreme textual heterogeneity and a persistent question-text disjuncture, where end-of-chapter tasks demand high analytical engagement while the textual content remains predominantly passive. Consequently, future curricular interventions must prioritize structural alignment between narrative content and assessment tasks, alongside systematic reduction of textual variance across grade levels.