| The purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensions underlying metacognition and assess metacognition's relationship to field dependence/independence, the cognitive style most critical to education.; To measure metacognition, an inventory was compiled based on items from existing inventories. The Group Embedded Figures Test and the Quick Word Test were used to measure field dependence/independence and verbal intelligence respectively. The sample was 168 female New York City high school students.; Factor analysis revealed four factors underlying metacognition accounting for 32.4% of the total variance (Factor 1--20.7%; Factors 2 to 4--11.7%), and named Self-Evaluation of Goals, Planning Strategically, Diligence in Work, and Organization of Information, with coefficient alphas of.86,.81,.76, and.58 respectively.; The factor analysis of this study confirmed what previous researchers found--that metacognition is a multidimensional construct. A significant contribution of this study is that it used a more diverse batch of items relating to metacognitive processes than that used in previous factor analyses and that pertains well to the breadth of metacognitive activities of the subjects tested.; Pearson product-moment correlations, multiple regression analysis, and the stepdown analysis of the MANOVA procedure, with verbal intelligence as a mediating variable, indicated no significant relationship between metacognition and field dependence/independence, a finding similar to that of previous researchers. This study used a comprehensive measure of metacognition while previous researchers focused on narrower aspects of metacognition such as strategy use, planning, or monitoring and evaluation. Also, none of these previous studies had verbal intelligence as a mediating variable. |
