Thinking Styles of Chinese and American Adult Students in Higher Education: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This research concerned the thinking styles of 150 Chinese and American graduate students, using the Inquiry Mode Questionnaire by Harrison and Bramson. The analysis showed the Chinese students scored as more pragmatic than the American group, and the Chinese men and American women scored as more idealistic than the Chinese women and American men. The study also indicated that students of social science or humanities and of natural science scored as more idealistic than those in engineering. Students of natural science and engineering scored as more analytical than those from social science or humanities, and engineering students scored as more realistic than those of the other majors. This group of students preferred the analytical thinking style most and the synthesist style least.