Measuring Sophistication of Epistemic Beliefs Using Rasch Analysis

Johan Van Strien, Monique Bijker, Saskia Brand-Gruwel, Els Boshuizen

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    Abstract

    Measuring epistemic beliefs is challenging from a conceptual as well as a methodological point of view. Conceptually, it is hard to distinguish between naïve and sophisticated beliefs, and methodologically, common statistical techniques yield inconsistent results. In response to these challenges, a new instrument to measure high school students’ epistemic beliefs was designed and validated. The 55-item instrument contained three scales (absolutism, multiplism, evaluativism), that reflected different stages in epistemic development (Kuhn, 1991; 1999), moving from naïve to sophisticated beliefs. Rasch analysis was used to analyze the data. The analysis confirmed the existence of the three scales with moderate reliability coefficients.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Future of Learning
    Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of the 10th International Conference of the Learning Sciences
    EditorsJan van Aalst, Kate Thompson, Michael J. Jacobson, Peter Reimann
    Place of PublicationSydney, NSW, Australia
    PublisherInternational Society of the Learning Sciences
    Pages197-201
    Number of pages5
    Volume2
    ISBN (Electronic)978-0-578-10704-2
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2012

    Keywords

    • epistemic beliefs
    • Rasch measurement

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