Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire: a psychometric analysis

Instruments used in Psycho-educational research need to be analyzed in terms of their psychometric characteristics throughout the course of their construction. However، when such instruments are translated from the original language to that of the new users، this process needs to be repeated. Schumer''s Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire is one such instrument. To verify the validity and reliability of its Farsi version، a cluster sample of university students studying within the 10th district of Azad Eslami University was taken. The analysis of the data collected yielded a reliability range of 0. 30-0. 57 for the sub-domains and the over-all reliability of 0. 78 for the instrument. The construct validity for three of the sub-domains was confirmed، while for the other two، «certainty of knowledge» and «the ability to master everything»، was only partially confirmed. This questionnaire with 30 items in 5 dimensions of the epistemological beliefs can be used in Iranian research