Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire
Introduction
The Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire
Chang and Elliott 2004
“Four epistemological belief and two teaching and learning conception dimensions were identified from a survey study of a sample of Hong Kong teacher education students. The epistemological belief dimensions were labeled Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge. [..] The two teaching and learning conceptions were labelled Traditional and Constructivist Conceptions.” [1].
Questionnaire development is described in Chan and Elliott (2002). [2]
Below are sample items of the epistemological beliefs questionnaire.
| Dimensions | Items |
|---|---|
| Innate/Fixed Ability | *There isn’t much you can do to make yourself smarter as your ability is fixed at birth
|
| Learning Effort/Process | "If people can’t understand something right away, they should keep on trying.
|
| Authority/Expert Knowledge | *Sometimes, I don’t believe the facts in textbooks written by authorities.
|
| Certainty Knowledge | *Scientists will ultimately get to the truth if they keep searching for it.
|
Chai et al. 2006
Chai et al. (2006) adapted an instrument developed by Chan and Elliott’s (2004) [1] study. The latter was from Schommer’s larger 63-item questionnaire on various epistemological dimensions. This modified EBQ version “covers four dimensions, labelled as Innate/Fixed Ability, LearningEffort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty of Knowledge” (Chai et al, 2006:291):
| Dimensions | Sample items |
|---|---|
| Innate/Fixed Ability (INFIX) | ● Students who begin school with average ability remain average
● Our ability to learn is fixed at birth |
| Learning Effort/Process (LEP) | ● Understanding course materials and thinking process are more important than acquiring knowledge/facts
● Knowing how to learn is more important than the acquired facts |
| Authority/Expert Knowledge (AEK) | ● I still believe in what the experts say even though it differs from what I know
● I have no doubt in whatever the expert says |
| Certainty of Knowledge (CK) | ● Scientific knowledge is certain and does not change
● If scientists try hard enough, they can find the truth to almost anything |
Bibliography and references
Cited with footnotes
Bibliography
- Chai, C. S., Khine, M. S., & Teo, T. (2006). Epistemological beliefs on teaching and learning: a survey among pre‐service teachers in Singapore. Educational Media International, 43(4), 285–298. http://doi.org/10.1080/09523980600926242
- Chan, K. W. & Elliott, R. G. (2002) Exploratory study of Hong Kong teacher education students’ epistemolog-ical beliefs: cultural perspectives and implications on beliefs research,Contemporary Educational Psychology,27(3), 392–414.
- Schommer, M. (1990) Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension, Journal of Educational Psychology, 82 (3), 498–504
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chan, K. W. & Elliot, R. G. (2004) Relational analysis of personal epistemology and conceptions about teaching and learning, Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 817–831
- ↑ Chan, K., & Elliott, R. G. (2002). Exploratory Study of Hong Kong Teacher Education Students’ Epistemological Beliefs: Cultural Perspectives and Implications on Beliefs Research. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27(3), 392–414. http://doi.org/10.1006/CEPS.2001.1102