Modeling Epistemic and Ontological Cognition: Philosophical Perspectives and Methodological Directions

摘要

We propose an integration of aspects of several developmental and systems of beliefs models of personal epistemology. Qualitatively different positions, including realism, dogmatism, skepticism, and rationalism, are characterized according to individuals' beliefs across three dimensions in a model of epistemic and ontological cognition. This model incorporates ideas from philosophical epistemology, including a focus on students' multiple means of justification. Concerns regarding the psychometric qualities of quantitative measures of personal epistemology inform this model and its proposed operationalization. We suggest a means of statistical analysis that can be used to assess the construct and predictive validity of this conceptual model by testing the relations among positions, dimensions, and covariates of interest. Future research directions include investigating how individuals choose among various forms of justification.