The relationship between undergraduates' epistemological beliefs, reflective judgment, and their information-seeking behavior

During the fall 2001 semester 15 first-year undergraduates were interviewed about their information-seeking behavior. Undergraduates completed a short-answer questionnaire, the Measure of Epistemological Reflection, measuring their epistemological beliefs and searched the Web and an online public access catalog using tasks from the Reflective Judgment Interview that assessed their reflective judgment level. Undergraduates talked aloud while searching digital environments about the decisions they were making about the information they encountered while transaction analyses software (Lotus ScreenCam) recorded both their search moves and their decision-making through verbal protocol analysis. Analyses included examining the relationship between undergraduates' epistemological beliefs and reflective judgment and how they searched for information in these digital environments. Results indicated that there was a relationship between epistemological beliefs and reflective judgment and information-seeking behavior. Undergraduates' at higher stages of epistemological development exhibited the ability to handle conflicting information sources and to recognize authoritative information sources. (C) 2002 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.