Personal epistemological development during the undergraduate education : beliefs about knowledge and knowledge acquistion of Thai University students.

Abstract

Objectives: This research investigates students’ beliefs about knowledge and knowledge acquisition (i.e., personal epistemology) to evaluate how students develop epistemologically during their undergraduate education. Methods: Two groups of undergraduate students (N = 3,050) in a Thai university completed a questionnaire: first-year students who were about to begin studying in the university (n = 870), and students who had just graduated from the university (n = 2,180). Results: A five-factor structure is identified for the personal epistemology of the students. Significant differences are identified between the first-year students and the graduates in four out of the five factors. The differences between the male and female students are also significant in four out of the five factors. Further separate breakdown analyses by students’ subject major indicate that the discrepancies between the first-year and the graduates are more noticeable in some majors than others. Conclusions: The research results provide a global picture of the dimensional structure of personal epistemology of Thai university students. Moreover, they also suggest that undergraduate university education has an influence on the students in developing their epistemological viewpoints in certain aspects.