Investigating the think-aloud protocol as an educational and research approach: a systematic review

The Loud Thinking Protocol is utilized as a verbal reporting method in the fields of psychology and cognitive sciences. aim The aim of this research is to examine the methodology of the Loud Thinking Protocol in the dimensions of education and research.

This study adopts a qualitative approach and is conducted through a systematic review. The statistical population of the research comprises articles that have addressed this topic in various information sources. Data collection tools include a systematic review of keywords such as "Loud Thinking Protocol, verbal thinking, thinking aloud, specified thinking" in databases such as Sid, Irandoc, Magiran, ISC, Emerald, Scholar Google, Science Direct, ProQuest, Web Science, Eric Web of, and Scopus, They were systematically examined in several stages.

In this study, 17 concepts regarding the applications of the Loud Thinking Protocol in the field of education were obtained. Some of these concepts include: influencing individual knowledge, expressing and generating new ideas, enriching classroom discourse, and serving as a means to guide behaviors and problem-solving processes. Additionally, 13 concepts regarding the applications of the Loud Thinking Protocol in the field of research were identified. Some of these concepts include: a useful and effective method in research for extracting sufficient and reliable data in the study of metacognition of readers and the use of cognitive strategies, achieving analysis of tangible data, ensuring intercoder reliability in data coding, and providing direct data.

The utilization of this protocol leads to the generation of new ideas and the production of valuable and direct data in research. Its application creates new mental and linguistic communications within a community. Moreover, it adds new information to individuals' cognitive processes, enhancing their creativity, facilitating better understanding of others' mental and emotional states, and enabling behavior alignment with expected individuals' perceptions.