Epistemological Beliefs of Students at High Schools: A Survey Study in Malaysia

Abstract

Epistemological beliefs reflect the viewpoint of the individual about what and how knowledge can be acquired and the degree of certainty. The present study sought answers to the following questions: What are the overall epistemological beliefs of students at high schools? Do epistemological beliefs of students at high schools differ by gender? Do epistemological beliefs of students at high schools differ by school type? Epistemological beliefs scale comprising 62 items measuring five components of beliefs (i.e. Quick Learning, knowledge, Certain Knowledge, Omniscient authority, innate ability, and simple knowledge) was administered to a sample of 301 form five students from public schools in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia. Descriptive statistics, and MANOVA were used. Results indicated that: participants had naive beliefs about Quick Learning, Certain Knowledge, Omniscient authority, innate ability, and simple knowledge, no significant differences were found in students’ beliefs due to gender and school type.

Keywords: certain knowledge, innate ability, omniscient authority, quick learning, simple knowledge