Undergraduate students' critical thinking dispositions and trust in sources of information about genetically modified food risk
Abstract
Risk information should be provided by trusted sources. People need access to sources in a way that allows an assessment of its credibility. The study sought to establish students' access awareness to databases and describe their degree of trust, familiarity, and reporting bias of sources of information about GM food risk. Also, the study created a critical thinking disposition profile of undergraduate students using the University of Florida Engagement, Cognitive Maturity, Innovativeness (UF-EMI) assessment. Demographical variables were examined to determine if a relationship exist between gender, ethnicity, age, major, level of education, trust in sources of information, and scores from the UF-EMI. The findings indicated the majority of students had moderate critical thinking dispositions (CTD). For the total CTD, Blacks scored higher (M=104.8158, SD=14.36) than non-Blacks (M=102.5217, SD=17.73), t(152) =0.022, P>0.05, d =0.0035. There were no significant differences between other selected variables and scores from the UF-EMI. The authors suggest more CTD research to better understand these constructs.
Subject Area
Food Science|Agriculture
Recommended Citation
Darnell Rayekal Towns,
"Undergraduate students' critical thinking dispositions and trust in sources of information about genetically modified food risk"
(2012).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI1533623.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI1533623