Three-factor structure for Epistemic Belief Inventory: A cross-validation study

Abstract

Research on epistemic beliefs has been hampered by lack of validated models and measurement instruments. The most widely used instrument is the Epistemological Questionnaire, which has been criticized for validity, and it has been proposed a new instrument based in the Epistemological Questionnaire: the Epistemic Belief Inventory. The Spanish-language version of Epistemic Belief Inventory was applied to 1,785 Chilean high school students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in independent subsamples were performed. A three factor structure emerged and was confirmed. Reliability was comparable to other studies, and the factor structure was invariant among randomized subsamples. The structure that was found does not replicate the one proposed originally, but results are interpreted in light of embedded systemic model of epistemological beliefs.

Epistemic Beliefs and Googling

“…As factor analyses often show (e.g. Bråten et al, 2005;Chiu et al, 2013;Leal-Soto & Ferrer-Urbina, 2017;Schraw, 2013), the model arrived at in the exploratory procedure is not necessarily identical with the hypothesized conceptual model, regarding neither item set nor factor structure, as was the case here. The results of an EFA are not sufficient to confirm a model (Osborne, 2014, pp.…”

“…They recommend the use of Maximum Likelihood, as later supported by Osborne (2014, p. 9) and Finch et al (2016, p. 131). Thus, the analysis procedure starts with an EFA with ML as extraction method, followed by a validation procedure including EFA and CFA on split halves of the sample (Fabrigar et al, 1999;Fokkema & Greiff, 2017;Leal-Soto & Ferrer-Urbina, 2017;Osborne, 2014, pp. 6, 119-120;Tang, 2010).…”

Dispositions towards learning: the importance of epistemic attributes for postgraduate learners

“…The lack of robustness in the intended five subscales is in line with empirical findings in previous studies (c.f. DeBacker et al , 2008; Leal-Soto and Ferrer-Urbina, 2017), and the two higher order epistemic dimensions, “structure of knowledge” and “acquisition of knowledge” reflect established theoretical positions such as Hofer and Pintrich’s (1997) “beliefs about knowledge” and “beliefs about knowing”, and Greene et al (2010) “ontological cognition” and “epistemic cognition”. Analysis proceeded using these two epistemic constructs alongside the other twelve scales, giving a total of fourteen dispositional attributes.…”

Análise das propriedades psicométricas do questionário epistemológico-inventário de crenças epistemológicas (CEICE) em universitários espanhóis

“…El EBI considera los mismos componentes del EQ pero con diferentes ítems. A pesar de los numerosos intentos de los autores de estas y otras pruebas por encontrar una consistencia de los factores propuestos los análisis factoriales realizados más recientemente y con diferentes técnicas (ORDÓÑEZ; PONSODA; ABAD; ROMERO, 2009;SCHRAW, 2013;WELCH;RAY, 2012;LEAL;FERRER, 2017) muestran que las estructuras factoriales propuestas por los autores originales de los test no son consistentes.…”