Understanding the Link Between Epistemological Beliefs and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

Year 2026, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 1 - 23, 29.12.2025

Elif Öztürk , Gökhan Öztürk

https://doi.org/10.63612/ijesp.1702246

Abstract

This study synthesized prior research examining the relationship between epistemological beliefs (EB) and academic achievement across K–16 educational settings. A meta-analysis of 15 studies (N = 9,223) reporting correlational statistics yielded a small but statistically significant mean effect size (r = .19, SE = .01, p < .001), indicating a positive association between EB and academic performance. Moderator analyses using regression and ANOVA identified several variables that significantly influenced the strength of this relationship, including students’ demographic characteristics, measurement reliability, and contextual factors such as country and grade level. Notably, the effect size was larger in college samples and Western countries compared to secondary education and non-Western contexts. The findings underscore the importance of considering methodological and cultural variation in understanding how EB relate to achievement.

Keywords

epistemological beliefs , academic achievement , meta-analysis

Ethical Statement

This study is a meta-analytic research that synthesizes existing data from previously published studies. Since no new data were collected from human participants or animals, and all analysed data were derived from publicly available sources, no ethical committee approval was required for this study. All data included in the analysis were obtained from published studies that adhered to their respective ethical guidelines.

References

• Arslantaş, H. A. (2016). Epistemological Beliefs and Academic Achievement. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(1), 215-220. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v4i1.1107
• Barger, M. M., Wormington, S. V., Huettel, L. G., & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (2016). Developmental changes in college engineering students’ personal epistemology profiles. Learning and Individual Differences, 48, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.04.002
• Bråten, I., & Strømsø, H. I. (2004). Epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence as predictors of achievement goals. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(4), 371-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2003.10.001
• Cano, F. (2005). Epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning: Their change through secondary school and their influence on academic performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 28, 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709904X22683
• Chen, J. A., & Pajares, F. (2010). Implicit theories of ability of Grade 6 science students: Relation to epistemological beliefs and academic motivation and achievement in science. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35(1), 75-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2009.10.003
• Ding, X., Li, S., Zhang, X., & Shi, J. (2024). The mediating role of executive function between socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic structural equation model. Learning and Individual Differences, 110, 102418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102418
• Dunekacke, S., Jenßen, L., Eilerts, K., & Blömeke, S. (2016). Epistemological beliefs of prospective preschool teachers and their relation to knowledge, perception, and planning abilities in the field of mathematics: a process model. ZDM, 48(1-2), 125-137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0711-6
• Dupeyrat, C., & Mariné, C. (2005). Implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientation, cognitive engagement, and achievement: A test of Dweck’s model with returning to school adults. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(1), 43-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.01.007 Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (1967), Volume 3, Macmillan, Inc.
• Erikson, E. (1968) Identity, youth and crisis. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Evans, L. (2024). What is academic development? Contributing a frontier-extending conceptual analysis to the field’s epistemic development. Oxford Review of Education, 50(4), 451-467. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2023.2236932
• Garcia-Mila, M., Felton, M., Miralda-Banda, A., & Castells, N. (2023). Pre-service teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and predispositions to teach argumentation in their disciplines. Journal of Education for Teaching, 49(4), 648-666. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2022.2150536
• Glass, G. V. (1976). Primary, secondary, and meta-analysis of research. Educational Researcher, 5, 3-8. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X005010003
• Hansen, K., & Henderson, M. (2019). Does academic self-concept drive academic achievement? Oxford Review of Education, 45(5), 657-672. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2019.1594748
• Hofer, B. K., & Pintrich, P. R. (1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67(1), 88–140. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543067001088
• Kampa, N., Neumann, I., Heitmann, P., & Kremer, K. (2016). Epistemological beliefs in science- a person-centered approach to investigate high school students' profiles. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 46, 81-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.04.007
• Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (2001). Practical meta-analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Lodewyk, K. R. (2007). Relations among epistemological beliefs, academic achievement, and task performance in secondary school students. Educational Psychology, 27(3),307-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410601104080
• Madjar, N., Weinstock, M., & Kaplan, A. (2017). Epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations: Relations between constructs versus personal profiles. The Journal of Educational Research, 110(1), 32-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2015.1034353
• Oh, S. A., Chung, E. K., Han, E. R., Woo, Y. J., & Kevin, D. (2016). The relationship between medical students’ epistemological beliefs and achievement on a clinical performance examination. Korean Journal of Medical Education, 28(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.3946/kjme.2016.7
• Pamuk, S., Sungur, S., & Oztekin, C. (2016). A Multilevel Analysis of Students’ Science Achievements in Relation to their Self-Regulation, Epistemological Beliefs, Learning Environment Perceptions, and Teachers’ Personal Characteristics. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-016-9761-7
• Paulsen, M. B., & Wells, C. T. (1998). Domain differences in the epistemological beliefs of college students. Research in Higher Education, 39(4), 365-384. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:101878521922
• Pereira, Í. S. P., Russell, T., & Riaño, X. A. G. (2024). Enhancing student teachers’ epistemology of reflective practice while still at the university: Evidence from a sheltered reflective practicum. Journal of Education for Teaching, 50(1), 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2023.2193147
• Perry, W. G., Jr. (1968). Patterns of development in thought and values of students in a liberal arts college: A validation of a scheme. Cambridge, MA: Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 024315).
• Rastegar, A., Jahromi, R. G., Haghighi, A. S., & Akbari, A. R. (2010). The relation of epistemological beliefs and mathematics achievement: the mediating role of achievement goals, mathematics self-efficacy, and cognitive engagement. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5, 791-797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.186
• Schommer, M, (1993). Epistemological development and academic performance among secondary student. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 406-411. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.85.3.406
• Schommer-Aikins, M., & Easter, M. (2006). Ways of knowing and epistemological beliefs: Combined effect on academic performance. Educational Psychology, 26(3), 411-426. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144341050034130
• Spiegel, J. A., Goodrich, J. M., Morris, B. M., Osborne, C. M., & Lonigan, C. J. (2021). Relations between executive functions and academic outcomes in elementary school children: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 147(4), 329. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000322
• Stucke, N. J., & Doebel, S. (2024). Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 150(10), 1178. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000445
• Thompson, B. (2008). Foundations of behavioral statistics. NY: Guilford
• White, B. C. (2000). Pre-service teachers' epistemology viewed through perspectives on problematic classroom situations. Journal of Education for Teaching, 26(3), 279-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/713676891
• Willson, V. L. (1983). A meta-analysis of the relationship between science achievement and science attiude: Kindergarten through college. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 20(5), 839-850. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.3660200906
• Wright, P. (2013). Theory of knowledge or knowledge of the child? Challenging the epistemological assumptions of the curriculum debate on geography from an alternative viewpoint. Oxford Review of Education, 39(2), 193-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2013.783796
• Xu, Z. (2023). Examining the factors influencing mathematics academic achievement in mainland China: A multilevel analysis. Oxford Review of Education, 49(3), 390-407. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2022.2091537
• Valentine, J. C., DuBois, D. L., & Cooper, H. (2004). The relation between self-beliefs and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychologist, 39(2), 111-133. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3902_3
• Zhai, J., & Yan, X. (2022). Epistemic analysis of high school science teachers’ class talks. Journal of Education for Teaching, 48(2), 259-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.2004075