The 8-Factor reasoning styles scale: development, validation, and psychometric evaluation

The 8-FRSS provides the first psychometrically robust measure that simultaneously captures empirical-hypothetical orientation, metaphorical-analogical framing, and inductive-deductive organisation. Its factorial stability across student and community samples, coupled with satisfactory reliability and demonstrable concurrent validity, supports its use in educational, cognitive, and decision-science research. Future work should refine lower-reliability factors, test longitudinal invariance, and explore predictive links to learning outcomes and susceptibility to misinformation.