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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 examines latent profiles of cognitive involvement in Iranian high school sociology textbooks using secondary data from the Comparative Adjudication Protocol. Applying William Romey's method and cluster analysis, it finds three distinct structural profiles: fully passive, hyper-active, and others, with a persistent disjuncture between passive text and high-demand questions. The results highlight the need for better alignment between narrative content and assessment tasks 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 Junior High School Social Studies
Hossein Talebzadeh
Analyzes intra-textbook heterogeneity in Iranian junior high school social studies textbooks using cognitive involvement indices. Reveals extreme textual irregularity in Grade 7 and three distinct profiles (Active-Question Dominant, Fully Passive, Hyper-Active), highlighting a disjuncture between passive content and demanding questions. Calls for structural alignment between narrative and assessment tasks.
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.