The Investigation of the Epistemological Beliefs of University Students According to Gender, Grade, Fields of Study, Academic Success and Their Learning Styles.

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the epistemological beliefs of university students according to their genders, classes, fields of Study, academic success and styles. This study was carried out with 246 females and 242 males, in total 488 university students. The data was collected through Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), Kolb Style Inventory (KLSI) and Personal Information Form. According to the findings, the epistemological beliefs do not differ depending on the gender of the students. According to the grade levels, it was found out that two beliefs, one of which is that Learning depends on the effort and the other one is that There is one unchanging truth, differ. However; the belief concerning that learning depends on ability does not differ. It was seen that the common interaction between the gender and the grade level did not differ significantly in the sub-dimensions of the beliefs concerning that learning depends on effort and of the beliefs concerning that learning depends on whereas it differs meaningfully in the sub-dimension of the beliefs that There is one unchanging Results showed that the males in the second grade believed that there is more than one unchanging truth. It was realized that the epistemological beliefs of the students differ according to their fields of study; however, they do not differ according to the common effect of the academic success and the field of Study. It was understood that the students from the field of social sciences in the sub-dimension of the belief concerning that learning depends on effort; the students from the field of health in the sub-dimension of the belief concerning that learning depends on ability; the students from the field of science-techniques were more developed/mature in the sub-dimension of the belief concerning that There is one unchanging It was determined that a great majority of university students have Assimilating and Converging styles. It was seen that there is not a meaningful difference in the sub-dimension of the beliefs concerning that learning depends on effort in terms of different styles. On the other hand, it was realized that there is a meaningful difference in the sub-dimensions of the beliefs concerning that learning depends on ability and of the beliefs that There is one unchanging truth in favour of the students who have Diverging styles. It was suggested for the further studies to investigate the epistemological beliefs of the university instructors and the personal characteristics (locus of control, learned helplessness) of the students. Key Words Epistemological Beliefs, Kolb Styles, University Students. The interest of the psychologists and the educators towards the epistemological beliefs increases gradually and the research on this field is growing (En- twistle & Entwistle, 1992; Glover & Ronning, 1987; Gustafsson & Undbeim, 1995; Sternberg, 1985). Hofer and Pintrich (2002) stated that the research on this field is categorized into three groups. The first group of this research was intended for explaining the individual differences in the educational life (Baxter Magolda, 1987; Perry, 1970). The second group of this research emphasized the cause and result relationships related with individual differences (Kitchener & King, 1981). The third and the most recent research were the ones which intended for the relationship between epistemological beliefs and (Akpinar, Donder, & Tan, 2010; Cheng, Chan, Tang, & Cheng, 2009; Ryan, 1984; Schoenfeld, 1983; Schommer, Crouse, & Rhodes, 1992). The effect of the beliefs on the opinions and behaviours made the classification of the beliefs in many different categories necessary in terms of teaching and processes (Entwistle, 1981; Ramsden, 1988; Schommer & Walker, 1995; Schommer-Aikins & Hutter, 2002). …

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