learning-styles

LSRC reference Section 1
page 6/7
The criteria used to reject other contenders were
as follows.
The approach was highly derivative and added little
that was new; for example, the names of the individual
learning styles, but little else, had been changed.
The research’s primary focus was on an allied topic
rather than on learning styles directly; for example,
it was a study of creativity or of teaching styles.
The publication was a review of the literature rather
than an original contribution to the field, such as
Curry’s (1983) highly influential ‘onion’ model which
groups different approaches into three main types.
Such reviews informed our general thinking, but
were not selected for in-depth evaluation as models
of learning style.
The study was a standard application of an instrument
to a small sample of students, whose findings added
nothing original or interesting to theory or practice.
The methodology of the study was flawed.
It was not necessary for all five inclusion criteria to
be met for a particular theorist to be included, nor
for all five rejection criteria to be fulfilled to be excluded.
In fact, it did not prove very difficult or contentious
to decide which models were most influential.
We outline the main models reviewed for the
report, together with a rationale for their selection,
in Section 2, which forms an introduction to
Sections 3–7 below.