ERIC Number: EJ1114337
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1814-6627
EISSN: N/A
The Related Effects of Item Characteristics in Measures of Epistemological Beliefs
Pope, Kathryn J.; Mooney, Gillian A.
Africa Education Review, v13 n2 p1-16 2016
Personal epistemology is concerned with people's beliefs or assumptions about the nature of knowledge and knowing. Whilst contributions in this field can be traced back to the 1970s, fundamental questions about the ontology and epistemology of the construct still remain. The current study explored the effects of three characteristics of questions aimed at eliciting epistemological assumptions on our interpretations of an individual's assumptions, namely the level of directness with which questions targeted assumptions, the domain-specificity of the question, and whether the questions were open or closed-ended. A paper-and-pencil measure was designed to manipulate these variables, and the interpretations made about the assumptions of 35 postgraduate Psychology students were compared. The results suggested that the characteristics do exert an influence and caution is raised regarding the validity of methodologies that are used in the study of personal epistemology.
Descriptors: Epistemology, Beliefs, Qualitative Research, Questionnaires, Correlation, Item Response Theory, Statistical Analysis, Foreign Countries, College Students, Psychology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A