"My Views Have Slightly Changed": A Quantitative-Qualitative Inquiry Into the Revision of Students' Sociopolitical Beliefs

• In Event: Motivation in Online and Virtual Settings

Abstract

An important interest of educators and researchers is understanding how students respond to information that contradicts their current views. Especially when the challenging information is in an area of socio-political beliefs, the change process seems fraught with difficulties. Following a less-than-successful attempt at changing undergraduates’ views of marijuana using a refutational text paradigm, we analyzed the open-ended responses students had provided following their reading of the text. A nuanced analysis of the students’ open-ended responses revealed promising clues as to the nature of conceptual change in the context of broader socio-political issues the students accessed and their critique of a one-sided presentation of information.

Authors

• Allison Zengilowski, University of California - Davis

• Brendan A Schuetze, The University of Texas at Austin

• Brady L. Nash, The University of Texas

• Diane L. Schallert, The University of Texas at Austin