University Professors' Epistemic Authority Assessment in Actual and Time-Remote Interaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2015vol1.303Keywords:
epistemic authority, university professors, time distanceAbstract
The epistemological aspect of knowledge is described as a subject of psychology and pedagogy studies, students’ views about learning or acquisition of knowledge and learning skills, role of experience in which knowledge is construed. Epistemic authority is related to the social context, interaction within this context in which transmission and exchange of knowledge take place and which is studied in the concept of social epistemology. Studies into epistemological views of students reveal the specifics of academic areas: students may have views about knowledge in general, this influences their behaviour, but they may differ in academic areas. Epistemic authority was explained as an essential factor in the process of acquisition of knowledge in schools and universities. An empirical study consisting of two stages was conducted to investigate student-perceived epistemic authority of university professors. Research target is to find out the level of assessment of perceived epistemic authority of university professors in the student and graduate samples and in study area groups. Author use epistemic authority research methodology, which include survey - Epistemic Authority Scale. A comparison of the results on the level of the sample shows that the results of study one and two are similar to the results obtained in the original study, and this, in general, suggests similar tendencies in assessment of professors’ epistemic authority regardless of cultural environment and the time distance when the measurements were made.Downloads
References
Bar, R. (1983). Hierarchy of Epistemic Authority Test. Unpublished master’s Thesis. Tel-Aviv : Tel-Aviv University.
Bar, R. (1999). The impact of epistemic needs and authorities on judgment and decision making. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Tel-Aviv: Tel Aviv University.
Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., Raviv, A., & Brosh, M. (1991). Perception of epistemic authority and attribution for its choice as a function of knowledge area and age. European Journal of Social Psychology, 21, 477-492.
Barton, A., Tan, E., & Rivet, A. (2008). Creating hybrid spaces for engaging school science: How urban girls position themselves with authority by merging their social worlds with the world of school science. American Educational Research Journal, 45, 68-103.
Blumberga, S. (2011). Student-Perceived Epistemic Authority of Associative Professors in Institutions of Higher Education. Signum Temporis, 4, 1, 10-16.
Blumberga, S., Vorobjovs, A. (2014). Problems in Assesing Epistemic Authority of University Professors. Proceeding of the International Scientifical Conference. Rezekne, 56-64.
Buehl, M. M., and Alexander, A. P. (2005). Motivation and performance differences among domain-specific epistemological belief clusters. American Educational Research Journal,42, 697-726.
De Grada, E., Kruglanski, A. W., Mannetti, L., and Pierro, A. (1999). Motivated Cognition and Group Interaction: Need for Closure Affects the Contents and Processes of Collective Negotiations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 346-365.
Egan, M. E., and Shera, J. H. (1952). Foundations of a Theory of Bibliography. The Library Quarterly, 22, 2, 125-137.
Erb, H.P., Kruglanski, A.W., Chun, W.Y., Pierro, A., Mannetti, L., & Spiegel, S. (2003). Searching for commonalities in human judgment: The parametric unimodel and its dual mode alternatives. European Review of Social Psychology, 14, 1-47.
Fuller, S. (2002). Social Epistemology. Bloomington. IN: Indiana University Press.
Goldman, A. I. (2001). Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 63, 85-110.
Gottlieb, E. (2007). Learning how to believe: Epistemic development in cultural context. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 16(1), 5-36.
Hammer, D., & Elby, A. (2002). On the form of a personal epistemology. Personal Epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Heritage, J. and Raymond, G. (2005). The Terms of Agreement: Indexing Epistemic Authority and Subordination in Talk-in-Interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68, 1, 15-38.
Jacobson, N. (2007). Social Epistemology : Theory for the ''Fourth Wave'' of Knowledge Transfer and Exchange Research. Science Communication, 29, 116-127.
Kitchener, K. S., King, P., Wood P. K., & Davison, M. L. (1989). Sequentiality and consistency in the development of reflective judgment: A six-year longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 10(1), 73-95.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1989). Lay epistemics and human knowledge: Cognitive and motivational bases. New York, NY: Plenum.
Kruglanski, A. W., Raviv, A., Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., Sharvit, K., Ellis, S., Bar, R., Pierro, A., & Mannetti, L. (2005). Says who?: Epistemic authority effects in social judgment. Advances in experimental social psychology, 37, 346-392.
Lewis, L. (2007). Epistemic Authority and the Gender Lens. The Sociological Review, 55(2), 273-292.
Mugny, G., Chatard, A., Quiamzade, A. (2006). The Social Transmission of Knowledge at the University: Teaching Style and Epistemic Dependence. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 21, 4, 413-427.
Ordonez, G. X., Ponsoda, V., Abad, J. F., and Romero, J. S. (2009). Measurement of Epistemological Beliefs : Psychometric Properties of the EQEBI Test Scores, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69, 287-302.
Quiamzade, A., Mugny, G., Chatard, A. (2009). When teaching style matches students' epistemic (in)dependence: The moderating effect of perceived epistemic gap. European Journal of Psychology of Education, XXIV, 3, 361-371.
Pace, J. L., and Hemmings, A. (2004). Understanding Classroom Authority: Theory, Ideology, and Research on Practice. American Sociological Association.
Ramazanoglu, C., and Holland, J. (2002). Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices. London: Sage Publications.
Raviv, A., Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., Abin, R. (1993). Measuring epistemic authority: studies of politicians and professors. European Journal of Personality, 7, 119-138.
Raviv, A., Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., Biran, B., Sela, Z. (2003). Teachers’ Epistemic Authorities: Perceptions of Students and Teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 6(1), 17-42.
Raviv, A., Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., Peleg, D. (1990). Perception of epistemic authorities by children and adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,19, 495-510.
Ricco, R. B., Schuyten, Pierce, S., & Medinilla, C. (2010). Epistemic beliefs and achievement motivation in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 30(2), 305-340.
Schommer-Aikins, M. (2004). Explaining the Epistemological Belief System: Introducing the Embedded Systemic Model and Coordinated Research Approach. Educational Psychologist, 39(1), 19-29.
Zandonade, T. (2004). Social Epistemology from Jesse Shera to Steve Fuller. Library Trends, 52, 4, 810-832.