Analyzing Open Mindedness and Critical Thinking in Research Mindset: A Quantitative Approach for Engineering Doctoral Students

Context A research mindset corresponds to cognitive procedures, mental filters, or beliefs that help in performing a successful research task. A previous qualitative study examining doctoral students' research mindsets revealed six attributes: (1) open mindedness, (2) believing in oneself and the research, (3) persistence, (4) honesty, (5) being critical, and (6) a writing mindset. Purpose or Goal This current study uses a quantitative approach to: (1) assess the research mindset attributes of open mindedness and being critical, and (2) explore possible gender and engineering disciplinary differences within these attributes. Methods A total of 89 doctoral students belonging to different engineering disciplines participated in the survey. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to reveal an initial factor structure for 'open mindedness' and 'being critical.' Kruskal Wallis tests and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to further understand the differences in these attributes across the demographic characteristics of gender and engineering discipline. Outcomes The exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution in line with the research mindset's attributes of 'open mindedness' and 'being critical.' Further analysis revealed no significant evidence to claim that gender differences exist when examining 'open mindedness' and 'being critical' scores. Some differences were observed for 'being critical' across disciplines for the doctoral student sample. Conclusion The study contributes valuable insights related to research mindset of doctoral students. The two attributes, open mindedness and being critical, are gender neutral but have differences in engineering disciplines leading to potential implication on how doctoral education can be designed and delivered. This also necessitates further research to gain a deeper understanding of the research mindset.