What’s the Matter with Kansas?: The Development and Confirmation of the Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS)

Abstract

The present survey was designed to assess predominant regional belief systems and the roles these beliefs play in science understanding and attitudes, and curricular effectiveness in colleges and universities. To this end, we created a wide variety of theory-driven subscales (lower order factors) reflecting, for example, exposure to evolutionary material, young earth creationist beliefs, moral and social objections, political ideology, endorsement of intelligent design fallacies, knowledge (and distrust) of the scientific enterprise, and attitudes of evolutionary theory's relevance in several domains (e.g., sciences and humanities). We also included potentially important demographic variables (e.g., rural upbringing, family size). Finally, we assessed openness to experience, a key facet of personality. Hierarchical Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis showed the 16 constructs to have a theoretically meaningful and quantitatively coherent higher order factor structure. In this large Kansas sample of university students, creationist reasoning and conservative orientation (political and religious) were negatively associated with exposure to evolutionary theory, knowledge about it, and positive attitudes toward its relevance. At the same time, exposure to the theory was positively associated with knowledge and positive attitudes. Importantly, though most Kansas-specific demographic variables (e.g., rural origins) were largely unrelated to outcomes of interest in this university-based sample, the personality factor openness to experience appears to be highly relevant for several higher order factors (e.g., exposure, knowledge and relevance, and creationist reasoning). We close with implications for educators and the next steps in survey development.

Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS): Development and Validation of a Short Form

“…First, the long form is created and validated. This step is completed (Hawley et al 2011). Second, data are collected with the long-form survey with a new sample to confirm the established long-form structure (i.e., the previously published long-form structure, our standard for comparison).…”

“…Third, the survey is systematically shortened according to pre-established criteria (details below) and compared once again to the published longform structure. Last, the short form is applied to outcome measures (e.g., demographics and openness to experience; Hawley et al 2011) to replicate documented patterns.…”

“…Short form In the last decade, intense interest has been focused on educational issues regarding the teaching of evolutionary theory and topics to which it is related in fields such as biology, anthropology, and psychology. This literature suggests that (a) individuals who seek exposure to evolutionary theory (e.g., in coursework or museum visits) demonstrate greater knowledge and report more positive attitudes toward the theory than those who do not seek exposure (e. Our previous work described and validated such a comprehensive measure that was designed to assess political and spiritual leanings, knowledge of evolution, distrust of and knowledge about the scientific enterprise, and attitudes toward and objections against evolutionary theory (Hawley et al 2011). With this measurement tool, our ultimate goal was to create a standard by which to assess aspects of curricular influences of courses in colleges and universities, and to assess the regional effectiveness of the intelligent design movement.…”

“…This literature suggests that (a) individuals who seek exposure to evolutionary theory (e.g., in coursework or museum visits) demonstrate greater knowledge and report more positive attitudes toward the theory than those who do not seek exposure (e.g., Lombrozo et al 2008;McFadden et al 2007), (b) religious identity and political ideology enhance or impede the seeking of such knowledge (e.g., genetic literacy; Scott 2004;Miller et al 2006;Paterson and Rossow 1999), and (c) knowledge of scientific epistemology is positively associated with both evolutionary knowledge and attitudes about its relevance (Hawley et al 2011). Until recently, no suitable comprehensive measure existed to assess curricular effectiveness, attitude change, or descriptions of regional populations.…”

“…Our previous work described and validated such a comprehensive measure that was designed to assess political and spiritual leanings, knowledge of evolution, distrust of and knowledge about the scientific enterprise, and attitudes toward and objections against evolutionary theory (Hawley et al 2011). With this measurement tool, our ultimate goal was to create a standard by which to assess aspects of curricular influences of courses in colleges and universities, and to assess the regional effectiveness of the intelligent design movement.…”