The relationships between Chinese higher education students' epistemic beliefs and their judgmental standards of searching for literature online: undergraduate versus graduate comparisons

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between Chinese higher education students' epistemic beliefs and their judgmental standards of searching for literature online. Data were collected from 449 higher education students (152 college students and 297 graduate students) in Beijing via two self-reported questionnaires: one was the Epistemic Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), including four scales (Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge, and Certainty of Knowledge); the other was the Online Judgmental Standards of Searching for Literature Questionnaire (OJSSLQ), consisting of six scales (Multiple sources, Authority, Content, Quantitative Indicators, Clarity, and Ease of Access). Through exploratory factor analyses, this study confirmed the reliability and validity of the EBQ and OJSSLQ. Further analyses indicated that there were significant differences between college and graduate students for the Content and Ease of Access judgmental standards of searching for literature online whereby graduate students had higher standards for these two factors, but there were no differences for the other factors. Correlation analysis between the EBQ and OJSSLQ was conducted for the college and graduate students. An interplay between the students' epistemic beliefs and their evaluative standards of searching for literature online was found. For example, the results indicated that both college and graduate students with the epistemic belief that learning requires great efforts and processes (Learning Effort/Process) had the tendency to judge the academic information by the standards of Authority and Content (i.e. checking the authority of literature or carefully reading the content). This study also found that epistemic beliefs might increasingly play a role in the students' judgmental standards of searching for literature online as they progressed into advanced study.

Keywords:

• epistemic beliefs
• online judgmental standards of searching for literature
• graduate
• undergraduate
• Internet

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the project of the comprehensive reform of educational technology from Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant Number 705105602) in 2014.

Notes on contributors

Dr Yan Dong earned her Ph.D. degree from the School of Psychology in Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China, in 2007. From 2006 till now, she is an Associate Professor of the School of Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China. Her research interests deal with scientific epistemological beliefs, Web information assessment, 21st century learning and teachers' TPACK development.

Dr Jyh-Chong Liang earned his Ph.D. degree from the Graduate Institute of Medicine in Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, in 2001. From 2003 to 2009, he was an Assistant Professor of the Department of Early Childhood Care and Education in Chinmin Institute of Technology, Taiwan. He is currently an Associate Professor of the Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. His research interests deal with scientific epistemological beliefs, conceptions of and approaches to learning science, and Web information assessment.

Miss Yue-Yue Yu was a graduate student of the school of Educational Technology at Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China from 2013 to 2015, majoring in the subject of Science and Technology in Education.

Miss Jui-Chi Wu was a graduate student of the Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan from 2011 to 2014.

Dr Chin-Chung Tsai holds a B.Sc. in physics from National Taiwan Normal University. He received a Master of Education degree from Harvard University and completed his doctoral study at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1996. From 1996 to 2006, he joined the faculty of Center for Teacher Education and Institute of Education, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. He is currently a Chair Professor at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. Since July 2009, he has been appointed as the Co-Editor of Computers & Education. His research interests deal largely with constructivism, epistemological beliefs, and Internet-based instruction.