FACTOR STRUCTURE OF A SELF-REPORT QUESTIONNAIRE DETERMINING THE EPISTEMIC BELIEFS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN STUDENT TEACHERS IN THE SCIENCE DOMAIN

Abstract

The presented empirical study deals with the issue of the epistemic beliefs of primary school and kindergarten student teachers in the science domain. In relation to science education, epistemic beliefs are closely connected with the concept of nature of science (NOS). The aim of the study was to find and analyze the factor structure of the translated self-report questionnaire “Epistemic Beliefs About Science” (EBS) in the Czech sociocultural environment. The EBS was translated as recommended for cross-cultural research and then piloted in March 2021. The main data collection was conducted online via Google Forms in May 2021 through convenience sampling (N = 427) at six universities in the Czech Republic. We performed a confirmatory factor analysis to verify the model. Fit indices reached acceptable or good values for acceptance of the generated model (CFI = .955, TLI = .945, RMSEA = .060, SRMR = .052). Correlations between individual dimensions are also presented. The reliability for both the original form of the instrument and for the resulting model was higher than 0.75 for all subscales. The results are discussed in the context of foreign empirical studies. It can be stated that the modified version of the EBS is applicable in the Czech sociocultural environment for the research sample.