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Journal of Medical Education

Abstract

Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) was developed according to Kolb's experiential learning model which classified learning into a four-stage cycle. The LSQ was translated into Chinese and applied to a convenient sample of students from a university and a nursing school. Seven hundred and twenty students (women 55.1%) completed the survey. Men had a more theorist style than women (P=0.001). Medical students had a more theorist style than other students. Cronbach's coefficient alphas of the four learning styles are 0.65, 0.62, 0.67 and 0.67, respectively. Theorist was positively related to the reflector (r=0.44) and pragmatist (r=0.50). The activist was negatively related to the reflector (-0.20). Item factor analysis did not reproduce the four-stage structure. Indirect factoring using the miniscales approach produced 17miniscales, which were corresponded to the characteristics compositions of each learning style. Miniscales of the theorist and the pragmatist were grouped into one factor, and miniscales of the activist and the reflector formed the other factors in a four-factor solution. In a two-factor solution, miniscales of the activist and the theorist were separated into different factors. In Sum of scales factoring, the theorist, the pragmatist, and the reflector scales were grouped in factor 1 and the activist scale was in factor 2. Our data suggested a two-style learning model, the active and the conservative, with three facets in the conservative construct. Cultural factors may modify a person's learning style, but most of the learning style characterisations are cross-cultural.

First Page

234

Last Page

243

DOI

10.6145/jme.200709_11(3).0006

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