Welcome to the Website

Work on the Reflective Judgment Model was begun by my colleague Karen Strohm Kitchener and I when we were doctoral students at the University of Minnesota in the 1970s under the guidance of Clyde Parker, James R. Rest, and Mark L. Davison. Since that time, many colleagues at many other universities have joined this effort; collectively, this group of scholars and educators has greatly enriched our understanding of the development of epistemic assumptions and how young adults and adults learn to make truly reflective judgments.

Two major observations have guided our work over the years: 1) individuals' understanding of the nature, limits, and certainty of knowing (their epistemic assumptions) affects how they defend their judgments; and 2) their epistemic assumptions change over time in a developmentally related fashion. These observations have guided and motivated us to more fully describe, better assess, and carefully research the development of reflective judgment.

This website was designed with the considerable assistance of two doctoral students at the University of Michigan, Marie Kendall Brown and Nathan K. Lindsay; without their encouragement, thoughtful questions, and perseverance, this task would not have been accomplished. Thank you, Nathan and Marie!

— Patricia M. King

Overview of the Website

This website provides a detailed description of King and Kitchener's (1994) Reflective Judgment Model and the two most commonly used instruments for the assessment of reflective judgment development, the Reflective Judgment Interview (RJI) and the Reasoning about Current Issues (RCI) Test. The website provides information for graduate students, educators, and educational researchers about the Reflective Judgment Model and general assessment instruments. This site includes information on the following topics:

• The Reflective Judgment Model's theoretical framework
• The Reflective Judgment Model's seven stages
• A discussion of the rationale for choosing a stage model
• The Reflective Judgment Interview (RJI), the initial measure of Reflective Judgment
• A detailed description of The Reasoning about Current Issues Test (RCI), the current measure of Reflective Judgment, including ordering information
• A discussion of educational implications and areas for further research
• Bibliography
• The toolbar to the left shows the organization of information contained in this site. Questions related to the website's format and navigation should be directed to nlindsay@umich.edu.
  
  

Reflective Judgment as a Goal of Higher Education

Many (if not most) colleges and universities aspire to teach college students how to draw reasonable conclusions in the presence of incomplete and even conflicting data. In The Challenge of Connecting Learning, a report by the Association of American Colleges, the need for higher education institutions to teach students reflective judgment is clear: "In the final analysis, the challenge of college, for students and faculty members alike, is empowering individuals to know that the world is far more complex than it first appears, and that they must make interpretive arguments and decision-judgments that entail real consequences for which they must take responsibility and from which they may not flee by disclaiming expertise" (1991, pp. 16-17).

Sources for articles and other references on this topic can be found in the bibliography.