Indicators for Assessing the Quality of Research Suggestions in Scientific Writing and Evaluation of Adherence to Them in Behavioral Sciences Studies: A Mixed-Methods Exploratory Study

The research suggestions as an extract of all the efforts in research implementation can provide the context to reduce the gap between the current and the desired situation. Despite the importance of research suggestions, surveys show that this sector is far from the expected attention and transparency. Therefore, in the present study, with a mixed exploratory research method, an attempt was made to represent the research suggestions, identify quality assessment indicators, and evaluate the current status of these in behavioral sciences. In the first part, 33 related documents were identified and studied in reputable domestic and international databases, and a system of quality assessment indicators was developed based on 60 indicators and categorized into 12 criteria. In the second part, to evaluate the quality of suggestions in theses in the field of behavioral sciences, 33 master's and doctoral theses defended during 2021-2023 were assessed. The highest and lowest levels of compliance with the indicators were allocated to the criterion of relevance to research objectives at 79% and the criterion of having the ability to be implemented at 45.5%, respectively. in other the evaluation of risks (67.5%); accurate and clear writing(66.8%); peer review(64.6%); providing impactful suggestions(64.5%); scientifically justified (50.5%); originality and importance of suggestions (48%); having a connection with previous studies (48%); supporting future research (47%) were ranked. These results provide adequate resources and opportunities for students to familiarize themselves with the nuances of crafting effective research suggestions. In the end, solutions to improve the quality of academic writing were presented.