Abstract
The authors construct Chinese college students’ epistemological beliefs questionnaire, which consists of six dimensions: certain knowledge, simple knowledge, acquisition of knowledge, ability to learn, speed of learning and the value of learning. The questionnaire has good reliability and validity. Using this questionnaire, based on the investigation of 1121 college students from eight different universities in China, this study aims to explore the developmental characteristics of Chinese students’ epistemological beliefs. Results show that the development of college students’ epistemological beliefs follows an increased pattern; the scores of the junior and senior students are higher than the freshman and sophomore, and the scores of the sophomore are the lowest in these four groups. College students’ development on the dimensions of knowledge beliefs is higher than that of learning beliefs. The investigation and interview suggest that Chinese college students’ epistemological beliefs experience three stages: the first stage is multiplicity, the second stage is primary relativism and the third stage is advanced relativism.
Highlights
The Research Tool of College Students’ Epistemological BeliefsBeliefs about knowledge and knowing, namely epistemological beliefs are individuals’ representations about the nature, organization, and source of knowledge, its truth value and the justification criteria of assertions (Hofer and Pintrich, 1997, 2002)
Many documents and questionnaires on epistemological beliefs were consulted, such as: Schommer’s s Epistemological Questionnaire (SEQ); Schraw’ EBI; epistemological beliefs questionnaire compiled by Chan and Elliott
Related items are collected through interviews and other epistemological beliefs questionnaires, so as to work out predicting items for Chinese students’ epistemological questionnaire
Summary
The Research Tool of College Students’ Epistemological BeliefsBeliefs about knowledge and knowing, namely epistemological beliefs are individuals’ representations about the nature, organization, and source of knowledge, its truth value and the justification criteria of assertions (Hofer and Pintrich, 1997, 2002). The Research Tool of College Students’ Epistemological Beliefs. Because students’ epistemological beliefs have great impact on their learning process and learning outcomes (Hofer, 2004; Schraw and Sinatra, 2004; Muis et al, 2006; Bromme et al, 2010; Braten et al, 2011), the researches of epistemological beliefs have become hot issues of educational psychologist (Buehl and Alexander, 2001; Hofer, 2001; Watkins, 2004). The research tool of epistemological beliefs is Schommer’s Epistemological Questionnaire (SEQ). This questionnaire consists of four dimensions: certain knowledge, simple knowledge, innate ability, and quick learning (Schommer, 1990).
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