Assessing Levels of Epistemological Understanding: The Standardized Epistemological Understanding Assessment (SEUA)

Abstract

This article describes the process of modification and Polish adaptation of an instrument constructed to assess the level of epistemological understanding. The original tool was developed by Kuhn et al. (Cogn Dev 15:309–328, 2000) in order to account for transitions between, and coordination of, subjective and objective dimensions of knowing across different judgement domains (the domains of personal taste, aesthetics, moral values, truths about the social world and truths about the physical world). Our aim was to improve its psychometric properties. The main changes included extending the list of test items, a new administration procedure and the introduction of a quantitative scoring method. The outcome is a valid, reliable and standardised instrument—the Standardized Epistemological Understanding Assessment.