{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20126"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20126","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension","abstract":"U of I Only","abstract_html":"U of I Only","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schommer, Marlene Ann"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["West, Charles K."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T12:29:37Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T12:29:37Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:15Z","subjects":["Education, Educational Psychology","Education, Reading","Psychology, Developmental"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1989 Schommer, Marlene Ann"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI8924938","(UMI)AAI8924938"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI8924938","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI8924938","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20126","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["West, Charles K."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Schommer, Marlene Ann"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T12:29:37Z","10000-01-01","1989"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Education, Educational Psychology","Education, Reading","Psychology, Developmental"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1989 Schommer, Marlene Ann"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI8924938","(UMI)AAI8924938","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20126"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["U of I Only","In the last two decades educators and researchers have evolved the idea that beliefs about the nature of knowledge, or epistemological beliefs, may provide a partial explanation for why some students fail to integrate knowledge (Anderson & Pearson, 1984b), have inflexible criteria for comprehension monitoring (Yussen, 1985), or oversimplify information (Spiro, Vispoel, Schmitz, Samarapungavan, & Boerger, 1987). The purpose of this research was to these ideas.","\"The overall question to be addressed by this research is \"\"Do students' epistemological beliefs affect their comprehension?\"\" A questionnaire designed to identify epistemological beliefs was administered to 266 undergraduates. Verbal ability, prior knowledge and demographic characteristics were also assessed. Then, a group of these students ($N$ = 86) read a passage on a topic in either psychology or nutrition. Next, students were asked to imagine that they were the author of the passage and to write a concluding paragraph. Then, they assessed their understanding of the passage. Finally, a multiple choice test was administered to test specific passage information.\"","Factor analysis of the questionnaire resulted in four factors named as follows: (I) The Ability to Learn is Innate, (II) Knowledge is Discrete and Unambiguous, (III) Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, and (IV) Knowledge is Certain. Written conclusions were coded for adequate reflection of complexity and uncertainty. The effect of epistemological beliefs on the nature of conclusions drawn was tested by first regressing comprehension measures on verbal ability, prior knowledge, and sex; and then, allowing epistemological factors to compete for entry.","Epistemological factors predicted interpretation, comprehension, and comprehension assessment. The more students believe Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, the more likely they are to write oversimplified conclusions. The more students believe Knowledge is Certain, the more likely they will interpret inconclusive information as certain. The more students believe Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, the more likely they are to perform poorly on typical comprehension measures and inaccurately assess their comprehension.","These results suggest that students' epistemological beliefs can be described as a complex system that affects comprehension. These effects are generalizable across two domains and are evidenced beyond the effects of factors traditionally known to influence comprehension.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:29:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 8924938.pdf: 8045714 bytes, checksum: 4de4c03ea0ef0135221d04a3d04bb665 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1989","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:41:44Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:18:06-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["West, Charles K."],"dc:creator":["Schommer, Marlene Ann"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T12:29:37Z","10000-01-01","1989"],"dc:description":["U of I Only","In the last two decades educators and researchers have evolved the idea that beliefs about the nature of knowledge, or epistemological beliefs, may provide a partial explanation for why some students fail to integrate knowledge (Anderson & Pearson, 1984b), have inflexible criteria for comprehension monitoring (Yussen, 1985), or oversimplify information (Spiro, Vispoel, Schmitz, Samarapungavan, & Boerger, 1987). The purpose of this research was to these ideas.","\"The overall question to be addressed by this research is \"\"Do students' epistemological beliefs affect their comprehension?\"\" A questionnaire designed to identify epistemological beliefs was administered to 266 undergraduates. Verbal ability, prior knowledge and demographic characteristics were also assessed. Then, a group of these students ($N$ = 86) read a passage on a topic in either psychology or nutrition. Next, students were asked to imagine that they were the author of the passage and to write a concluding paragraph. Then, they assessed their understanding of the passage. Finally, a multiple choice test was administered to test specific passage information.\"","Factor analysis of the questionnaire resulted in four factors named as follows: (I) The Ability to Learn is Innate, (II) Knowledge is Discrete and Unambiguous, (III) Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, and (IV) Knowledge is Certain. Written conclusions were coded for adequate reflection of complexity and uncertainty. The effect of epistemological beliefs on the nature of conclusions drawn was tested by first regressing comprehension measures on verbal ability, prior knowledge, and sex; and then, allowing epistemological factors to compete for entry.","Epistemological factors predicted interpretation, comprehension, and comprehension assessment. The more students believe Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, the more likely they are to write oversimplified conclusions. The more students believe Knowledge is Certain, the more likely they will interpret inconclusive information as certain. The more students believe Learning is Quick or Not-At-All, the more likely they are to perform poorly on typical comprehension measures and inaccurately assess their comprehension.","These results suggest that students' epistemological beliefs can be described as a complex system that affects comprehension. These effects are generalizable across two domains and are evidenced beyond the effects of factors traditionally known to influence comprehension.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:29:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 8924938.pdf: 8045714 bytes, checksum: 4de4c03ea0ef0135221d04a3d04bb665 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1989","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:41:44Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:18:06-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission"],"dc:identifier":["AAI8924938","(UMI)AAI8924938","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20126"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1989 Schommer, Marlene Ann"],"dc:subject":["Education, Educational Psychology","Education, Reading","Psychology, Developmental"],"dc:title":["The effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:15Z"}