Eric Klopp

Saarland University | UKS · Bildungswissenschaften

Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind ein wichtiger Prädiktor wissenschaftlichen Denkens in einer Disziplin, wobei domänenspezifische Überzeugungen eine besondere Relevanz für wissenschaftliches Denken besitzen. Die vorliegende Studie beschreibt die Validierung des auf die Domäne Statistik adaptierten EBI-AM Fragebogens, der statistikspezifischen Abs...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind subjektive Vorstellungen über die Natur des Wissens und den Wissenserwerbsprozess. Diese werden als Dimensionen interindividueller Unterschiede konzeptualisiert. Die dimensionale Struktur wird aus Querschnittsdaten abgeleitet. Ein Beispiel sind die beiden domänenspezifischen Dimensionen Textur und Variabilität de...

Neuromyths are misconceptions generated by misunderstanding, misreading, or misquoting scientifically established facts by brain research to create a case for using these facts in educational contexts (OECD, 2002). There are also neurofacts, i.e., valid scientific concepts that can be considered in educational contexts. However, designing intervent...

Epistemological beliefs are a major prerequisite for scientific thinking and argumentation. Evaluativist epistemological beliefs are especially beneficial for adequate scientific argumentation. Thus, evaluativist epistemological beliefs should be fostered. This study examines the effects of two intervention approaches, the indirect and the direct a...

This study investigates the effects of an epistemological sensitization to change domain-specific epistemological beliefs. An epistemological sensitization is a short-term intervention that presents a domain's epistemological features to elicit epistemological doubt when these features are dissonant with a person's current epistemological beliefs....

Theoretischer Hintergrund Im dimensionalen Ansatz werden epistemische Überzeugungen (eÜ) als Dimensionen interindividueller Unterschiede konzeptualisiert und ihre dimensionale Struktur aus Querschnittsdaten abgeleitet. Dieser Datentyp stellt R-Daten im Sinne Cattels (1952) dar. Im Folgenden werden die aus R-Daten abgeleiteten eÜ daher als R-eÜ beze...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen (eÜ) sind ein wichtiger Prädiktor wissenschaftlichen Denkens in einer Disziplin (Fischer et al., 2014), wobei allgemeine und domänenspezifische Überzeugungen unterschieden werden können (Muis et al., 2006). Zur Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge zwischen epistemologischen Überzeugungen und anderen Konstrukten wie z.B. Stu...

The present study showcases attitudes toward inclusive education in a new light. It contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the extent of inclusive education and highlights the importance of teachers in a process toward inclusion. Based on a framework that involves the reciprocal relation between models of disability, learning theory, and place...

In this study, we exploratively investigate the relation between students’ epistemological beliefs and their declarative knowledge about scientific explanations and their practical skills to explain psychological phenomena drawing on scientific theories before and after a training intervention using a person-centered approach. We theoretically deri...

The Jefferson Scale of Empathy is one of the most commonly used scales in medical education to measure empathy. It is specific to the field of medical education and geared toward orienting medical students to physician empathy in patient care situations. The scale was transferred to the educational context in teacher education. In doing so, the que...

This paper aims at clarifying the questions regarding the effects of the scaling method on the discrepancy function of the metric measurement invariance model. We provide examples and a formal account showing that neither the choice of the scaling method in general nor the choice of a particular referent indicator affects the value of the discrepan...

In the literature on measurement invariance, there are considerations about the choice of referent indicators, arguing that a wrong choice of the referent indicator may have ramifications for metric invariance tests. However, besides the scaling method that requires a referent indicator, two other scaling methods do not require a referent indicator...

In the dimensional approach to epistemic beliefs, their structure is usually determined from cross-sectional data (R-data). It represents the structure of interindividual differences (R-epistemic beliefs). This structure is typically also meant to represent the structure of an individual's epistemic beliefs. However, this is not necessarily the cas...

In the literature on measurement invariance, there are considerations about the choice of referent indicators, arguing that a wrong choice of the referent indicator may have ramifications for invariance tests. However, besides the scaling method that requires a referent indicator, two other scaling methods do not require a referent indicator. Thus,...

The model-size effect means that for models with latent variables, the model’s asymptotically χ2-distributed test statistic is upwardly biased depending on the size of the model, in particular, for small sample sizes. Drawing on statistical theory and the distinction between error of approximation and error of estimation, we reconsider some up-to-n...

Theoretischer Hintergrund: Wissenschaftliche Erklärungen führen beobachtete Sachverhalte auf wissenschaftliche Theorien zurück. Die Kompetenz, wissenschaftliche Erklärungen zu generieren (Erklärungskompetenz; Klopp & Stark, 2018), ist ein wesentliches Element wissenschaftlicher Kompetenz (Dietrich et al., 2015). Da der strukturelle Aufbau einer wis...

In this study, we exploratively investigate the relation between students' epistemological beliefs and their declarative knowledge about scientific explanations and their practical skills to explain psychological phenomena drawing on scientific theories before and after a training intervention using a person-centered approach. We theoretically deri...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind ein wichtiger Prädiktor wissenschaftlichen Denkens in einer Disziplin (Fischer et al., 2014), wobei allgemeine und domänenspezifische Überzeugungen unterschieden werden können (Muis et al., 2006). Insbesondere domänenspezifische Überzeugungen besitzen für wissenschaftliches Denken eine besondere Relevanz. Die vor...

Based on different theories in media research (3AM, catalyst model of violent crime, reinforcing spirals model), we further explore the relationship between pornography use, sexual fantasy, and behavior. We suggest that pornography use appears so persistent across time and culture because it is related to a human universal, the ability to fantasize...

Retrospective self‐reports are commonly used to assess dietary intake. Yet, their use is criticized as it is unclear whether the underlying assumptions for valid self‐reports are met: Individuals have to consider the behavior of all days in the retention interval and weigh the behavior of all days equally. This study examines whether these assumpti...

Acquiring scientific argumentation competence is a major goal of higher education study programs, but it is common for students to use erroneous arguments often. In erroneous arguments, scientific evidence is not adequately used to support the claim. From a conceptual change perspective, students have misconceptions of the normative use of scientif...

The present study investigates the combination of an epistemological sensitization and two different critical thinking instructions, i.e., the general and infusion approach, in the context of epistemological change induced by the presentation of resolvable scientific controversies. In a randomized study, we tested the hypothesis that the presentati...

We used the reinforcing spirals approach and the catalyst model of violent crime to explore if a reciprocal relationship exists between pornography use, sexual fantasies and sexual behavior. To assess our assumption, we conducted a network analysis with a large and diverse sample of N = 1338 hetero- and bisexual participants from Germany. The netwo...

This paper aims at clarifying the questions regarding the effects of the scaling method on the discrepancy function, and in turn on the test statistic, of the metric measurement invariance (MI) model. We provide examples and a formal account showing that neither the choice of the scaling method in general nor the choice of a particular ref-erent in...

The present study investigates the combination of an epistemological sensitization and two different critical thinking instructions, i.e., the general and infusion approach, on epistemological change induced by the presentation of resolvable, scientific controversies. In a randomized study, we tested the hypothesis that the presentation of resolvab...

In measurement invariance (MI) analysis, the metric invariance model is central. One prominent scaling method restricts the loading of a reference indicator (RI) to unity in all groups to identify the metric MI model. It has recently been argued that this scaling method is problematic when the RI’s loading in the population is not invariant, claimi...

In exploratory factor analysis, determining the number of factors is an essential task for which a variety of criteria exists. Determining the number of factors has recently been discussed in the context of model selection, in which the use of information criteria is common. Studies investigated the use of the AIC and the BIC, but until now, there...

Epistemische Überzeugungen (EÜ) sind eine wichtige Voraussetzung für wissenschaftliches Denken (Fischer et al., 2014) und sollten daher bei Studierenden gefördert werden. Eine Möglichkeit hierzu ist die Präsentation wissenschaftlicher Kontroversen (Rosman et al. 2016). Klopp und Stark (2022) haben hierzu eine Intervention vorgestellt, welche die Pr...

The present study investigates the effects of an intervention presenting resolvable, scientific controversies and an epistemological sensitization measure on the changes in psychology students' epistemological beliefs. Drawing on the notion that the presentation of resolvable scientific controversies induces epistemological doubt and the notion tha...

Although the reciprocal relationship of teacher burnout and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is well documented, the literature still lacks studies investigating their (latent) changes and interrelations of change over time. By applying a latent change regression model in our study, we aimed to contribute to this research gap by examining changes in bur...

1. Objectives or purposes. The critical reflection of teaching processes is a core competency of teachers and pre-service teachers, and a fundamental prerequisite for this competency is sophisticated epistemic beliefs (Lee-Brownlee et al., 2017). The developmental approach to epistemic beliefs distinguishes three epistemic development stages: absol...

In measurement invariance analysis, the metric invariance model is central because it is besides the configural model one ingredient involved in testing if metric MI holds. To achieve identification of the metric MI model, one highly popular scaling method restricts the loading of a so-called reference indicator (RI) to unity in all groups. Rece...

Evaluativistische epistemische Überzeugungen sind eine wichtige Voraussetzung zur Entwicklung einer fortgeschrittenen wissenschaftlichen Argumentationskompetenz (Kuhn, 1991). Im Rückgriff auf das Entwicklungsmodell epistemischer Überzeugungen (Weinstock, 2006), das die drei Ausprägungen Absolutismus, Multiplizismus und Evaluativismus beschreibt, is...

In exploratory factor analysis, determining the number of factors is an essential task for which a variety of criteria exists. Recently, determining the number of factors has been discussed in the context of model selection, in which the use of information criteria is common. Some studies investigated the use of the AIC and the BIC but up to now...

Although the reciprocal relationship of teacher burnout and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is well documented, the literature still lacks studies investigating their (latent) changes and interrelations of change over time. By applying a latent change regression model in our study, we aimed to contribute to this research gap by examining changes in bur...

Latent variables in structural equation models do not have an observable scale. Hence, researchers resort to scaling methods, such as fixed marker, effects coding, or fixed factor, to assign scales to the latent variables. The use of such procedures results in numerically different estimates, in spite of a single underlying population model. In thi...

We investigate the effects of manifest residual variances, indicator communalities, and sample size on the χ 2-test statistic of the metric measurement invariance model when the model is misspecified, i.e., there is at least one population loading that violates metric measurement invariance. First, we demonstrate the choice of the scaling method do...

Comparing the effects of two or more explanatory variables on a dependent variable in structural equation models, with either manifest or latent variables, may be hampered by the arbitrary metrics which are common in social sciences and psychology. A possible way to compare the effects is the comparison of standardized regression coefficients by me...

Argumentation competence is an essential skill to be acquired in university education. However, there is a lack of advanced argumentation competence even for graduate students. To foster argumentation competence, typical interventions focus on example-based learning. Another approach is learning from advocatory errors. The combination of both appro...

This book is dedicated to the topic of generating data using the think-aloud method. It updates and extends a collection of German papers published more than a decade ago (Schneider, 2001). This predecessor to the present book focused on the cognitive processes involved when respondents answer items of personality questionnaires. It collected works...

Argumentation competence is a major skill to be acquired in university education. However, there is a lack of advanced argumentation competence even for graduate students. To foster argumentation competence, typical interventions focus on example-based learning. Another approach is learning from advocatory errors. The combination of both approaches...

Comparing the effects of two or more explanatory variables on a dependent variable in structural equation models, with either manifest or latent variables, may be hampered by the arbitrary metric which are common in social sciences and psychology. A possible way to compare the effects is the comparison of standardized regression coefficients by mea...

In this contribution, we investigate the effects of manifest residual variance, indicator communality and sample size on the χ2-test statistic of the metric measurement invari- ance model, i.e. the model with equality constraints on all loadings. We demonstrate by means of Monte Carlo studies that the χ2-test statistic relates inversely to manifest...

Recently, Guenole and Brown (2014) investigated the influence of (partial) measurement non-invariance on the regression parameters in multiple-group structural equation models (MG-SEM). They showed that in a simple regression model, there is a systematic pattern of over- or underestimation of the regression coefficient in a focal group in compariso...

Introduction In exploratory factor analysis (EFA), determining the number of factors is an essential task for which a variety of criteria exists. Recently, determining the number of factors has been discussed in the context of model selection (Preacher et al., 2013). In model selection, the use of information criteria like the AIC or BIC is common...

Epistemic beliefs are a major prerequisite for scientific thinking and argumentation. Especially evaluatist epistemic beliefs are beneficial for an adequate scientific argumentation. Thus, evaluatist epistemic beliefs should be fostered. This study examines the effects of two intervention approaches, the indirect and the direct approach, on the cha...

Latent variables in structural equation models do not have an observable scale. Hence researchers resort to scaling methods, such as fixed marker, effects coding, or fixed factor, to assign scales to the latent variables. The use of such procedures results in numerically different estimates, in spite of a single underlying population model. In this...

The present study investigates the effects of an intervention presenting resolvable, scientific controversies and an epistemological sensitization measure on the changes in psychology students’ epistemological beliefs. Drawing on the notion that the presentation of resolvable scientific controversies induces epistemological doubt and the notion tha...

Die Vermittlung von Argumentationskompetenz ist ein wesentliches Ziel einer universitären Ausbildung. Insbesondere in der Psychologie ist wissenschaftliches Argumentieren Teil wissenschaftlicher Kompetenz (Dietrich et al., 2015). Allerdings zeigen Studierende häufig Schwächen, wissenschaftlich kompetent zu argumentieren (Stark, 2005). Typische Argu...

Theoretischer Hintergrund. Epistemische Überzeugungen sind ein wichtiges Konstrukt in der Pädagogischen Psychologie, da fortgeschrittene epistemische Überzeugungen wichtige Voraussetzungen für wissenschaftliches Denken und Argumentieren sind (Klopp & Stark, 2016). Aus diesem Grund ist die Kenntnis von Entwicklungsverläufen von epistemischen Überzeu...

In this paper, we explain the reasons behind constraint interaction, which is the phenomenon that the results of testing equality constraints may depend heavily on the scaling method used. We find that the scaling methods interfere with the testing procedures because scaling methods determine which transformations of population quantities model par...

A growing body of studies has emphasized the need to consider method effects due to positively and negatively worded items for a better understanding of the factorial structure of psychological constructs. In particular, several researchers identified such method factors besides the content factor for various scales measuring Need for Cognition (NF...

Evidence on the developmental trajectory of epistemic beliefs is important because epistemic beliefs are prerequisite for teaching and learning processes. An important distinction in this context is whether epistemic beliefs change in mean level or conceptually, i.e. whether epistemic conceptual change occurs. This requires methods that allow us to...

The critical reflection of teaching processes is a core competency for teachers and therefore an important goal for pre-service teacher university training. A key prerequisite for this competency is sophisticated epistemic beliefs. Thus, pre-service teachers’ sophisticated epistemic beliefs have to be fostered. We developed an intervention that foc...

Estimated parameters in statistical models usually represent population parameters. A classical example is a regression model with observed variables. The estimated slopes and intercept represent the respective population parameters. But this is no longer the case when latent variables are invoked in the model. This results from the necessity to sc...

In multi-group and longitudinal studies, it is important to test for metric measurement invariance (MI). Recently, it has been pointed out that currently used test procedures for MI are not complete in the sense that additional assumptions about the referent indicator's invariance are needed in order to conclude that actual data satisfy MI (Raykov,...

In this paper, we explain the reasons behind constraint interaction, which is the phenomenon that the results of testing equality constraints may depend heavily on the scaling method used. We find that the scaling methods interfere with the testing procedures because scaling methods determine which transformations of population quantities model par...

The aim of this study is to investigate whether worked examples are effective in fostering psychology students’ explanation competence. Explanation competence is a context-specific cognitive disposition that enables a person to construct a causal model of an observable psychological phenomenon by drawing on psychological theories. We set up a train...

Eine in der Lehrerbildung geforderte Kompetenz ist die an bildungswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen orientierte Reflexion von Lehr- und Lernprozessen (KMK, 2004). Eine zentrale Voraussetzung hierfür sind angemessene epistemologische Überzeugungen (Lunn-Brownlee et al., 2017), die subjektive Annahmen über die Natur des Wissens beschreiben. Im entwick...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen spielen im Lehramtsstudium eine zentrale Rolle (Lunn-Brownlee, 2017), da diese eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die geforderte Kompetenz zur evidenzbasierten Reflexion von Lehr- und Lernprozessen sind (KMK, 2004). Daher ist es nicht nur von Interesse, Möglichkeiten zur Förderung epistemologischer Überzeugungen zu entwi...

In multi-group and longitudinal studies, it is important to test for metric measurement invariance. Recently, several authors have pointed out that currently used test procedures for measurement invariance (MI) do not fully test for MI and that additional assumptions about the invariance of the referent indicator are needed in order to conclude tha...

For achieving model identification, latent variables must be scaled. In the literature, several methods have been developed for scaling latent variables: the fixed marker method, the fixed factor method, and the effects coding method. When using the fixed marker method, model identification is achieved by setting one loading per latent variable to...

Wissenschaftliches Argumentieren ist ein wesentliches Element wissenschaftlicher Kompetenz im Fach Psychologie (Dietrich et al., 2015). Eine wichtige Voraussetzung adäquaten Argumentierens ist evaluatistisches epistemologisches Denken. Da epistemologisches Denken durch die Sozialisation in einer Domäne erworben wird (Klopp & Stark, 2016), stellt si...

Die Vermittlung von Argumentationsfähigkeit ist das Ziel einer universitären psychologischen Ausbildung. Allerdings zeigen Studierende Schwächen, adäquat wissenschaftlich zu argumentieren (Stark, 2005). Zur Förderung der Argumentationsfähigkeit können verschiedene Ansätze herangezogen werden. Ein bewährter Ansatz ist das Lernen aus Fehlern (Wagner...

The project „Theorizing in Practice“ uses typical theory application errors to foster applicable educational knowledge for the theory-based explanation of complex school situations. Earlier studies showed positive effects of error-based learning environments. However, a seminar concept expanding the learning environment by adding theoretical reflec...

In multi-group and longitudinal studies, it is important to test for metric measurement invariance. Recently, several authors have pointed out that currently used test procedures for measurement invariance (MI) do not fully test for MI and that additional assumptions about the invariance of the referent indicator are needed in order to conclude tha...

Wissenschaftliches Argumentieren ist ein zentrales Element wissenschaftlicher Kompetenz im Fach Psychologie (Dietrich et al., 2015). Eine wichtige Voraussetzung einer adäquaten wissenschaftlichen Argumentation ist evaluatistisches epistemologisches Denken. Evaluatismus stellt nach Absolutismus auf der ersten und Multiplizismus auf der zweiten die n...

Die Erklärung von Verhalten ist nicht nur ein definierendes Merkmal der Psychologie als Wissenschaft, sondern auch ein wesentliches Merkmal wissenschaftlicher Kompetenz im Fach Psychologie (Dietrich et al., 2015). Wissenschaftliche Erklärungen beantworten unter Rückgriff auf eine psychologische Theorie die Frage, warum ein bestimmter Sachverhalt, z...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind wichtige Voraussetzungen für adäquates Argumentieren, insbesondere dann, wenn konfligierende Sachverhalte verhandelt werden (Braten et al., 2012). Epistemologische Überzeugungen werden als Einstellungen über die Rechtfertigung von Behauptungen aufgefasst (Klopp & Stark, 2016). Ausgehend von dieser Auffassung stel...

Studies have shown that pre-service teachers' explanations of pedagogical situations are based on naïve conceptions of explanation. Building on our integrated framework of personal epistemologies a training program was developed to change students’ conceptions of explanation from a naïve to a scientific conception, i.e. to induce a conceptual chang...

Zusammenfassung. Ein Großteil der Forschung zu epistemologischen Überzeugungen findet unten dem Paradigma interindividueller Differenzen statt, aus dem eine Traitkonzeption epistemologischer Überzeugungen resultiert. Diese Sichtweise wurde von verschiedenen Autoren kritisiert. Die Kritikpunkte betreffen hauptsächlich die Domänenabhängigkeit epistem...

Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind wichtige Voraussetzungen für adäquates Argumentieren, dies gilt insbesondere dann, wenn konfligierende Sachverhalte verhandelt werden (Braten et al., 2012). Nach Klopp und Stark (im Druck) werden epistemologische Überzeugungen als Einstellungen über die Rechtfertigung von Behauptungen aufgefasst. Diese spielen im...

Abstract The aim of the current study is to specify scientific competencies in sociology and to discuss their usefulness for professional practice. To this end we introduce a theoretical model of scientific com- petencies in sociology. To identify building blocks of scientific competencies in sociology, we drew on the Structure of Intellect-model (...

The aim of the present study was to introduce a general theoretical model of scientific competencies in higher education and to adapt it to three social sciences, namely psychology, sociology, and political science, by providing evidence from expert interviews and program regulations. Within our general model, we distinguished and specified four bu...

Ein Großteil der Forschung zu epistemologischen Überzeugungen findet unten dem Paradigma interindividueller Differenzen statt, aus dem eine Traitkonzeption epistemologischer Überzeugungen resultiert. Diese Sichtweise wurde von verschiedenen Autoren kritisiert. Die Kritikpunkte betreffen hauptsächlich die Domänenabhängigkeit epistemologischer Überze...

Theory application competences for the explanation of complex school situations are a key skill for teachers. Such theory application competences are regarded as a key skill for teachers. However, student teachers often commit typical errors in the process. To utilize these errors instructionally, an integrated learning environment based on advocat...

Die Anwendung wissenschaftlichen Wissens zur Erklärung komplexer schulischer Situationen ist eine der Grundlagen effektiven Lehrerhandelns im Schulalltag. Eine solche Theorienutzungskompetenz im Sinne der Fähigkeit zu wissenschaftlich reflektiertem Handeln wird als Schlüsselqualifikation von Lehrkräften erachtet. Daher wurde in verschiedenen Studie...

As a result of the Bologna process, competency-based curricula and assessment are required in university contexts (German Rectors’ Conference, 2005). Therefore, the assessment of students’ scientific competencies is of utmost importance in higher education. In the context of this research, scientific competency is defined as the ability to think an...

Im Rahmen einer experimentellen Feldstudie (n = 288) wurde die Lernwirksamkeit einer integrierten Lernumgebung in Pflichtseminaren des bildungswissenschaftlichen Lehramtsstudiums untersucht. Die integrierte Lernumgebung basierte auf ausgearbeiteten Lösungsbeispielen, die in einen authentischen Kontext narrativ eingebettet waren. Instruktionale Basi...

Epistemological beliefs are an important topic in educational research. However, there are several theoretical and methodological issues requiring a critical reflection. The first issue concerns the definition of epistemological beliefs and its distinction from related constructs like beliefs about learning. It was proposed to delineate epistemolog...

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit epistemologischen Überzeugungen. Epistemologische Überzeugungen sind ein Konstrukt in der Psychologie, welches die Annahmen eines Individuums über die Struktur des Wissens sowie den Prozess des Wissenserwerbs bezeichnet (Hofer, 2002). Die Forschung über epistemologische Überzeugungen erlebte in der letzten De...

An experimental field study at a German university was conducted in order to test the effectiveness of an integrated learning environment to improve the acquisition of knowledge about empirical research methods. The integrated learning environment was based on the combination of instruction-oriented and problem-oriented design principles and consis...

The acquisition of diagnostic competence is seen as a major goal during the course of study in medicine. One innovative method to foster this goal is problem-based learning with erroneous worked examples provided in a computer learning environment. The present study explores the relationship of attitudinal, emotional and cognitive factors for learn...