Personal Epistemology and the Role of Higher Education: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Postgraduate Students

Abstract

Personal epistemology is an individual's views and beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing. One of the major factors contributing to the shaping of personal epistemology is university education. My experience of postgraduate education resulted in a transformation of my views about what it means to know and how to conduct research, and I used autoethnography to map this transformational journey. The aim of this study was to explore the role of higher education in the development of personal epistemology. I sought to gain insight into postgraduate students' experiences of university education in relation to learning about and doing research, and examined various factors contributing to personal epistemological beliefs. In this study, autoethnography was used to investigate my experiences of higher education and I reflected on the moments of epistemological change. A collaborative autoethnography was also used to provide accounts of postgraduate students who use an autoethnographic approach as part of their research. The study revealed that the university environment provided various opportunities to engage in epistemic cognition, during which students' personal epistemological beliefs were illuminated, challenged, and developed. The university was perceived as an ivory tower that privileges scientific knowledge and where autoethnographic practices were undermined. While higher education played a direct and significant role in the development of personal epistemology, I have come to understand that my identity as a student has been shaped by the ideologies of neoliberalism. This autoethnographic exploration enabled me to examine and describe the culture of higher education, and to explore my relation to it. I sought to critically reflect on the self in an attempt to understand what it means to be doing autoethnography in a modern neoliberal university.