Intellectual and Experiential Knowing: an Exploratory Factor
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INTELLECTUAL AND EXPERIENTIAL KNOWING: AN EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS TO UNCOVER THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF KNOWING A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Francis William Oakgrove In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Department: Education Option: Institutional Analysis March 2019 Fargo, North Dakota North Dakota State University Graduate School Title INTELLECTUAL AND EXPERIENTIAL KNOWING: AN EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS TO UNCOVER THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF KNOWING By Francis William Oakgrove The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Brent Hill Chair Nate Wood Adam Marx Christina Weber Knopp Approved: 4/23/19 Chris Ray Date Department Chair ABSTRACT Knowledge and the acquisition thereof have long been debated throughout human history. Several authors have suggested that knowing and knowledge differ among people. However, there is consistency among these studies that suggests a dualism within Western philosophy where a person exists of a mind and a body—two distinct and separate entities—with the mind as the central point of knowing. The theoretical framework for this study suggests that the dualism representation is limiting. Further, it posits that the body is also a central point for knowing. Hence, the Ways of Knowing Scale (WoKS) was developed in an attempt to measure the two separate ways of knowing through two subscales: experiential knowing (EK) and intellectual knowing (IK). This study serves as a presentation of the theoretical and philosophical framework for the WoKS as well as a pilot study and psychometric analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was implemented using data collected from a sample of n = 686 respondents on an initial pool of 22 items. Each of these items was constructed to reflect one of the two proposed constructs, hence two subscales (11 items per subscale). Although two constructs were originally hypothesized, a three-factor solution exhibited the closest approximation to simple structure; further, the three factors provided the most interpretable and meaningful solution. Two of the factors appear to correspond to the two original constructs suggested by theory. The various potential explanations for this third factor are considered. Future research is needed to further explore the nature of this emergent factor and subsequently refine the WoKS. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical Rationale and Need for the Study ............................................................................ 1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................... 4 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 5 Question 1 ............................................................................................................................... 5 Question 2 ............................................................................................................................... 5 Question 3 ............................................................................................................................... 5 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................................... 5 Contents of the Manuscript ......................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ........................................................................ 7 Philosophy of Knowing .............................................................................................................. 7 History, Power, and Privilege ................................................................................................... 14 History of U.S. Education ..................................................................................................... 14 Power and Privilege .............................................................................................................. 16 Common Schools .................................................................................................................. 18 Racial Segregation ................................................................................................................ 19 Contemporary Critique ......................................................................................................... 20 The Privileging of Knowing ................................................................................................. 22 Intellectual and Experiential Knowing ..................................................................................... 26 iv Intellectual Knowing ............................................................................................................. 26 Experiential Knowing ........................................................................................................... 28 Procedural Knowledge .......................................................................................................... 30 Knowing How/Knowing That............................................................................................... 31 Tacit Knowledge ................................................................................................................... 31 Embodied Cognition ............................................................................................................. 32 Summation ................................................................................................................................ 32 Extrapolated Conceptual Framework ................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER III: METHODS .......................................................................................................... 34 Sampling ................................................................................................................................... 34 Sample Demographics .......................................................................................................... 34 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 36 Instrument ................................................................................................................................. 36 Response Options and Scoring ............................................................................................. 36 Content Validity .................................................................................................................... 37 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS ............................................................................................................ 40 Data Screening .......................................................................................................................... 42 Descriptive Statistics ................................................................................................................. 42 Item Response Data .............................................................................................................. 42 Construct Validity ..................................................................................................................... 44 Sample Size Considerations .................................................................................................. 44 Number of Factors to Extract ................................................................................................ 45 Preliminary Factor Extractions ............................................................................................. 48 Final Factor Extraction ......................................................................................................... 52 v Reliability .................................................................................................................................. 55 Subscale 1 ............................................................................................................................. 55 Subscale 2 ............................................................................................................................. 56 Subscale 3 ............................................................................................................................