Differences in student reasoning about belief-relevant arguments: a mixed methods study

This mixed methods study investigated high school students’ evaluations of scientific arguments. Myside bias occurs when individuals evaluate belief-consistent information more favorably than belief-inconsistent information. In the quantitative phase, participants (n = 72 males) rated belief-consistent arguments more favorably than belief-inconsistent arguments; however, they also rated strong arguments more favorably than weak arguments, which indicated they did not evaluate the arguments exclusively on whether they were belief-consistent. In the follow-up qualitative phase, we conducted interviews with purposefully-sampled students who showed either higher or lower levels of myside bias. Results indicated that students in both groups applied normative evaluation criteria to the arguments. However, students who showed little or no myside bias applied the same evaluation criteria to arguments independent of whether they were belief-consistent, whereas students who showed high levels of myside bias applied different evaluation criteria to belief-inconsistent arguments. These findings suggest that procedural and conceptual metacognition may play a role in the extent to which individuals reason independent of their beliefs.

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11409-015-9148-0

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Work Title Differences in student reasoning about belief-relevant arguments: a mixed methods study
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Matthew T. McCrudden
  2. Ashleigh Barnes
Keyword
  1. Myside bias
  2. Belief bias
  3. Adolescent reasoning
  4. Explanatory sequential mixed methods
  5. Rationality
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Metacognition and Learning
Publication Date October 10, 2015
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-015-9148-0
Deposited August 09, 2023

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Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added ML_2016_reasoning_mixed_methods.pdf
  • Added Creator Matthew T. McCrudden
  • Added Creator Ashleigh Barnes
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword, Subtitle, Publication Date Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Myside bias, Belief bias, Adolescent reasoning, Explanatory sequential mixed methods, Rationality
    Subtitle
    • a mixed methods study
    Publication Date
    • 2016-12-01
    • 2015-10-10
  • Updated