Epistemological Beliefs, Self-Regulated Learning and Learning Approaches through the Lens of Multiple Regression Analysis

It has long been assumed that learning is an active and constructive process resulting from an interaction betweenprior knowledge and mental representations of new information. In the last decade, students’ beliefs and theories aboutknowledge and knowing, or personal epistemologies, have received increased attention from researchers. Theintersection of personal epistemology, learning approaches and self-regulated learning has become the object ofgrowing scholarly interest, as researchers of personal epistemology strive to clarify and expand the conceptualunderpinnings of this complex construct. The present study examined three main research objectives: the relativecontribution of personal epistemological beliefs and learning approaches on students’ reported use of self-regulatorystrategies, the factor structure of personal epistemological beliefs, and differences between males and females. Findingssupport previous research studies, in general, concerning the student approaches to learning and distinct dimensions ofpersonal epistemological beliefs.

Keywords:

Epistemological Beliefs , Self-Regulated Learning , Learning Approaches , Multiple Regression Analysis