A bibliometric review of approaches to address conflicts in schools: Exploring the intellectual base

• Author: Ilse Hakvoort,Agneta Lundström,Jonas Lindahl
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21266
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A bibliometric review of approaches to address

conflicts in schools: Exploring the intellectual base

Ilse Hakvoort

1

| Jonas Lindahl

2

| Agneta Lundström

3

1

Department of Education and Special

Education, University of Gothenburg,

Gothenburg, Sweden

2

Department of Sociology, Umeå

University, Umeå, Sweden

3

Department of Applied Educational

Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Correspondence

Ilse Hakvoort, Department of Education and

Special Education, University of

Gothenburg, Box 300, 405 30 Gothenburg,

Sweden.

Email: ilse.hakvoort@ped.gu.se

Abstract

Increasing numbers of student teachers, teachers, and

teacher educators require training in research-based

knowledge about how to address conflicts in schools.

There are also increasing numbers of relevant publica-

tions, and hence, a perceived need to map influential theo-

ries, methods, and topics that shaped the field of research.

To meet this need, a bibliometric study was conducted.

The reviewed literature, 608 publications referring to stud-

ies by 197 influential authors, was subdivided into two

periods: 1996–2010 and 2011–2015. The intellectual

structure was examined by author co-citation analysis. The

findings indicate seven clusters of authors from period one

and four from period two.

1|INTRODUCTION

Increasing numbers of student teachers, teachers, and teacher educators require research-based

knowledge to deal with conflicts in schools. There is an increasingly abundant literature on conflicts

in schools, and approaches to address them. However, identifying core studies, theories, methodol-

ogy and effective strategies to manage, resolve or transform conflict is not straightforward. Hard-

pressed professionals are facing multifaceted classes and conflicts and must often translate the theo-

ries they find into practice with not enough guidance from researchers (Skiba & Peterson, 2000).

While the theorist researcher is focused on developing knowledge that can be valid across time and

place, the professionals are more concerned with understanding the aspects that make their ways of

addressing clashes and conflicts work (Deutsch, 2006). Thus, there is a clear need to map and high-

light influential theories, key methodologies, and focal issues.

Scholars from diverse disciplines (inter alia: sociology, psychology, education, global studies,

and work science) have used different terms to name the field of study. Some of them prefer use of

the term “conflict resolution”when referring to efforts to address conflicts, while others refer to

Received: 3 February 2019 Revised: 3 July 2019 Accepted: 25 July 2019

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21266

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2019;37:123–145. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 123

conflict management, classroom management, or conflict transformation. However, none of the

terms conflict resolution, conflict management, classroom management, or conflict transformation

cover all the others, and thus the entire field. Therefore, we decided to refer to approaches to address

conflicts in schools when discussing efforts to manage, resolve, or transform conflicts in schools.

Previous reviews on approaches to address conflicts in schools include overviews of selected liter-

ature (Coleman, Deutsch, & Marcus, 2014), analyses of parts of the field focusing on scientific trends

and contributions of specific authors (Bickmore, 2002, 2004, 2011; Deutsch, 1949a, 1949b, 1973,

1990), and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of conflict resolution programs (Johnson & Johnson,

1996). Thus, parts of the field have been covered in previous reviews. However, there is no broad

overview in terms of the scope, robustness and coherence of the field, core topics, relations between

these topics, and changes over time. Therefore, we have used bibliometric methods to address the

perceived need for such an overview by mapping out the structure of the cited literature (that is influ-

ential scholars, research topics, methods, and theories) in research on approaches to address conflicts

in school. Bibliometrics can be defined as the statistical analysis of scientific communication

(i.e., published research; Pritchard, 1969), providing a set of methods that are particularly useful in

generating and mapping broad overviews of fields of research (Börner, Chen, & Boyack, 2003).

More specifically, citation analysis can quantitatively reveal the most influential authors, theories,

methods, and focal issues that have shaped the literature in the field of interest (White & Griffith,

1981). In this bibliometric review, we apply author co-citation analysis (Persson, 1994) to examine

the intellectual base of research on approaches to address conflicts in schools.

1.1 |Aim of the study

The aims of the study were to map and identify the foundation of relevant knowledge production in

the field of approaches to address conflicts in schools and provide an empirical overview of its inter-

disciplinary roots, influential authors, intellectual boundaries, complexity, core theories, key method-

ologies, and disputed aspects.

The following research questions were explored:

1. Which authors and research topics dominated the intellectual base in research on approaches to

address conflicts in schools between 1996 and 2015, and how are these topics related?

2. How has the intellectual base changed over time in research on approaches to address conflicts in

schools in terms of influential authors and intensively examined research topics?

2|METHOD

2.1 |Data collection

Relevant studies were identified by searching the interdisciplinary citation database Scopus, which

reportedly provides better coverage of publications presenting social science research than other cita-

tion databases, for example, SCI-expanded, SSCI, and A&HCI (Norris & Oppenheim, 2007). In

bibliometric studies, search terms are used to find relevant publications for analysis. The researcher

sets intellectual boundaries through the choice of search terms, which must therefore have solid theo-

retical foundation. Here, the first and third author formulated their understanding of the field, based

on 30 and 35 years of experience in working with conflicts in schools as teachers and teacher educa-

tors at higher education institutions teaching conflict theories and approaches to address conflicts in

124 HAKVOORT ET AL.