Examining Digital Citizenship Studies: Conceptual and Methodological Trends

The aim of this research is to examine the digital citizenship studies in the literature in terms of research subject, research method and research group. In this direction, the study attempts to present the perspective for future researchers by identifying the trends of digital citizenship studies. Research articles were evaluated by content analysis method. Research articles were searched in EBSCO, ERIC, Taylor and Francis ve SCOPUS databases. Database searches were performed using keywords such as “Digital citizenship”, “Digital citizenship education”, “Digital citizenship in schools”, “Digital citizenship scale”, “Digital citizenship in curriculum”, “Digital age”, “Digital technologies”, “Internet safety”. 119 research articles were reached. When the digital citizenship studies are examined, there are theoretical studies on the dimensions of digital citizenship, digital citizenship teaching, and scale development studies for determining the level of digital citizenship. In this study, literature review, survey and case study were benefited as research methods. Undergraduate students and adults stand out as research groups. There is a need for experimental studies on digital citizenship education and evaluation of students studying in primary and secondary schools.