Scientific results are easily available through mass media and the internet. Recent developments like "alternative facts" and "fake news", however, are an example of the fact that at least a certain percentage of the public considers the established media to be untrustworthy and/or do not value the scientific approach and scientific results when reaching important personal or political decisions. In the present project, this topic is addressed from a reading research perspective through the examination of university students. Scientific results on the same topic are often available across multiple documents. University students encounter these not only in the personal context, but also in the academic context. Reading multiple documents necessitates, amongst other tasks, the comparison of statements, making judgements regarding the trustworthiness of sources, and creating an adequate representation of content and its sources. Based on the recently proposed RESOLV model, the present project poses the question of whether the context in which the students read influences their reading decisions and outcome. Since in different contexts it is often not only the requester who varies, but also the task, in the present project the influence of the requester, the task, attitudes towards science, and knowledge about the scientific approach will be researched. Since the assessment of attitudes towards science, especially in the case of university students, might evoke biased self-report measures due to social desirability or self-deception, not only explicit but also implicit measures will be used. Study 1 focuses on the relationships of explicit and implicit attitudes towards science and knowledge about the scientific approach. In Study 2, the context effects by task, requester, and - as moderators - attitudes towards science and knowledge about the scientific approach will be researched. It is expected that the results will contribute to both the understanding of current phenomena as well as to theory advancement.

Results

• How can we measure beliefs about science in university students?
• What role do context and contradictions play in understanding multiple documents?
• How are students' beliefs about science related to their knowledge about how science works?
• Am I reading for myself or for the university? The influence of context and beliefs on the selection of documents for further reading

Publications

Conference contributions

• Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M.A. (2024). Reading for University or for myself? Effects of context and beliefs about science on college students' document selection. Journal of Educational Psychology, 116(3), 317-345. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000849

  Schoor, C. (in press). University students’ beliefs about science and their relationship with knowledge about science. European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-023-00724-2 (Open Access)

  Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M. A. (2023). Effects of context and discrepancy when reading multiple documents. Reading and Writing, 36, 1111-1143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10321-2 (Open Access)

  Schoor, C., & Schütz, A. (2021). Science-utility and science-trust associations and how they relate to knowledge about how science works. PLOS ONE, 16(12), e0260586. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260586 (Open Access)

• Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M. A. (2022). Student’s task model before and after working on multiple document tasks. Paper at the EARLI SIG 2 conference, 29.-31.08.2022, Kiel, Germany.

  Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M. A. (2022). Lese ich für mich oder für die Uni? Replikation und Erweiterung von Befunden zum Einfluss des Kontexts auf die Auswahl von Dokumenten. Paper at the 9. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), 9.-11.3.2022, Bamberg.

  Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M. A. (2021). Lese ich für mich oder für die Uni? Der Einfluss des Kontexts auf die Auswahl von Dokumenten. Paper auf der 18. Fachgruppentagung der Fachgruppe Pädagogische Psychologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (PaePsy2021), 14.-16.09.2021, Heidelberg / online.

  Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M.A. (2021). Context and consistency effects when reading multiple documents. Paper at the 19. Biennial European Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), 23.-27.08.21, Gothenburg, Sweden / online.

  Schoor, C. (2021). Der Zusammenhang von Einstellungen zu Wissenschaft mit Wissen über wissenschaftliches Vorgehen bei Studierenden. Vortrag auf der Thementagung "Hochschule 2021" der digiGEBF 2021, 17.-18.06.2021, online.

  Schoor, C., Rouet, J.-F., & Britt, M.A. (2020). Context effects when reading multiple conflicting documents. Poster presented at the EARLI SIG 2 conference, 31.8.-02.09.2020, Prague/online, Czech Republic.