Does
Participation in Research Methods Influence Reflective Judgment
Performance?
The
participation in higher education is an time consuming and costly
adventure. Hence, should produce some beneficial outcomes. One method
of measuring educational outcomes is though the post-formal operations
theory of Reflective Judgment. It was hypothesized that participation
in an experimental program would increase student’s reflective
judgment scores. The reflective judgment levels of thirty-one junior
and senior psychology students of a northeaster, catholic, liberal
arts college were assessed by a survey developed specifically for this
study. The senior participant’s reflective judgment scores were
assessed during the second semester of the required two semester
experimental program. Juniors were used as a control group for this
study, and their reflective judgment scores were assessed before the
first semester of the experimental program. The average reflective
judgment score for seniors was found to be 5.67 and for juniors was
5.06. A significant between group difference was found. This suggests
that participation in the experimental program does have an influence
on reflective judgment. However, further investigation is necessary to
discount other variables
