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Epistemological Questionnaire

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The following questionnaire items are adapted from Schraw et al.’s (2002) Epistemic Belief Inventory, which draws on Schommer’s (1990) Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire. This shortened and adapted version has not been empirically tested and the answers are designed primarily to act as a discussion starter.

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Answer each question, and then find your total scores using the scoring process at the end of the quiz

1. Most things worth knowing are easy to understand
2. What is true is a matter of opinion
3. People should always obey the law
4. Absolute moral truth does not exist
5. Too many theories just complicate things
6. The best ideas are often the most simple
7. I prefer it when people focus on facts instead of theories
8. How well you do as a researcher depends on you innate intelligence
9. Things are simpler than most researchers would have you believe
10. If two researchers disagree about something, at least one of them must be wrong
11. What is true today will be true tomorrow
12. Clever people are born that way
13. When someone in authority tells me what to do, I usually do it
14. People should be willing to question authority
15. Sometimes there are no right answers to life’s big problems

Scoring process​

If you scored:

  • Between 11-22 for questions 1, 3 and 5-13

  • Between 16-20 for questions 2, 4 and 14-15

You are likely to be a relativist.

 

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If you scored:

  • Between 44-55 for questions 1, 3 and 5-13

  • Between 4-8 for questions 2, 4 and 14-15

You are likely to be an objectivist.

 

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If you scored:

  • Between 23-43 for questions 1, 3 and 5-13

  • Between 9-15 for questions 2, 4 and 14-15

You may sit somewhere in between or regularly switch between epistemological stances.

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Scoring process
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