Examining the Differences among Undergraduate Students’ Epistemological Beliefs

Abstract

This study examined the differences among epistemological beliefs of undergraduate students with respect to fields of study, gender and year of study. A total of 248 undergraduate students taking degrees in Fine Arts Teaching, Physical Education and Business Administration participated in the study. The results of the study supported the early results that undergraduate students’ epistemological beliefs are not domain-specific, but domain-general. In addition, gender differences did not emerge among the students’ epistemological beliefs, whereas significant grade level differences were found. However, when the age was entered as covariate into the analysis year of study differences disappeared, indicating that these differences arose from the effect of age.