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Evolution Education Questionnaire on Acceptance and Knowledge (EEQ) - Standardised and ready-to-use protocols to measure acceptance of evolution and knowledge about evolution in an international context

  • 1. Institute for Biology; Teaching and Learning Research in Biology Education, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  • 2. Institute for Didactics of Biology, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
  • 3. Didactica Research Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences & Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp
  • 4. Organismal and Evolutionary Biology research program, University of Helsinki
  • 5. Vetenskap & Allmänhet, Public and Science
  • 6. Faculty of Education/ Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Usak University
  • 7. Chair of Genetics and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade
  • 8. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković" - National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade
  • 9. Department of Teaching and Didactics of Biology, Charles University
  • 10. Institut Ruđer Bošković / Division of Molecular Biology
  • 11. Department/Research Center in Systems Ecology and Sustainability, University of Bucharest
  • 12. Department of Education, University of Cyprus
  • 13. Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen
  • 14. Department of Primary Education, Democritus University of Thrace
  • 15. Laboratorio di Scienze Sperimentali
  • 16. Department of Educational Studies, Karlstad University
  • 17. Faculty of Biology / Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology / Department of Hydrobiology, University of Warsaw
  • 18. Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia
  • 19. Geology Section - UNICAMearth group, University of Camerino
  • 20. MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD
  • 21. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor
  • 22. Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Babeș - Bolyai University
  • 23. Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana
  • 24. Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki
  • 25. Department of Pedagogy and Didactics, University of A Coruña

Description

The lack of standardised assessment of evolutionary knowledge and acceptance of evolution across Europe makes comparisons between studies difficult. The Evolution Education Questionnaire on Acceptance and Knowledge (EEQ) was constructed to measure attitudes and understanding across Europe and beyond. We aimed to compile a brief instrument to allow for easy application in school and university. The target group of the EEQ was freshman university students who had just finished their secondary education. However, several components of the questionnaire were developed and validated for additional target groups. Therefore, this questionnaire may, in addition, be suitable for students in secondary school, in-service teachers as well as the general public.
This method report describes the contents and application of the EEQ and provides information on survey conduction, data preparation, analyses and interpretation of results to serve as a standardised and ready-to- use protocol to measure the acceptance of and knowledge about evolution in a local, national or international context. To allow for sampling in different European countries, we present the EEQ in 23 European languages.

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Additional details

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