Measuring epistemic curiosity in young children

Abstract

Epistemic curiosity (EC) is the desire to obtain new knowledge expected to stimulate positive feelings of intellectual interest (I-type) or reduce undesirable conditions of uncertainty associated with being deprived of information (D-type). Although researchers acknowledge that there are individual differences in young children’s epistemic curiosity, there are no existing measures to assess the I- and D-type constructs of EC in early childhood. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a parent-report scale that assesses expressions of I- and D- type EC in young children. To develop the measure, 16 potential items were administered to 316 parents of children aged 3–8. These items were adaptations of an existing adult self-report measure of EC as well as new items. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that a 10-item 2-factor model had the best fit. Construct validity analyses indicate that this is a valid measure of EC in young children.