Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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On the basis of these four dimensions, we developed a 16-item scale for epistemic beliefs
(Table 1). Because engineering as defined here represents a transdisciplinary
epistemology, the scale assesses the respondents’ self-reported beliefs of engineering as a
discipline.
Table 1: Items of Transdicplinary Views of Engineering Epistemology (Epistemic Beliefs)
Epistemological Beliefs: Beliefs about Engineering Knowledge and
Knowing
Since we agree with Hofer and Pintrich’s (1997) argument that beliefs about learning need
to be distinguished conceptually from beliefs about how we know what we know, we have
adopted their four basic categories of epistemological beliefs, namely: certainty of
knowledge, simplicity of knowledge, sources of knowledge, and justification of knowing.
To develop items related to engineering knowledge and knowing, we adopted Hofer’s
discipline-focused epistemological beliefs questionnaire (2000) as well as Carberry’s the
Epistemological Beliefs Assessment for Engineering (2010). As noted earlier, we excluded
items related to beliefs about engineering learning in order to conceptually distinguish
said items from beliefs about engineering knowledge and knowing. As a result, Table 2
shows the 16 items related to beliefs about engineering knowledge and knowing.
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011