learning-styles

LSRC reference Section 5
page 56/57
5.3
Jackson’s Learning Styles Profiler (LSP)
Origins
The LSP is described as ‘an applied neuropsychological
model of learning styles for business and education’
(Jackson 2002). Chris Jackson, an organisational
psychologist now at the University of Queensland,
developed it in the UK over 10 years, working in the
research culture of Eysenckian personality theory and
drawing on the psychobiological theories of Gray (1982)
and Cloninger (1993).
Definitions, description and scope
For Jackson, learning styles are a sub-set of personality,
having a biological basis and constituting ‘the learnt
basis of personality’ (2002, 12). Four learning
styles are proposed, which resemble the Honey and
Mumford (2000) styles, but are not claimed to be
totally independent or to form part of a learning cycle.
They are: initiator, reasoner, analyst and implementer.
There are 80 items in the LSP, randomly ordered,
with 20 for each style. Respondents have to select
from the options ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘can’t decide’. There
is a computerised version of the LSP which provides
feedback in the form of a percentile score for each
style and a detailed profile containing advice for getting
future learning experiences right and improving weaker
learning styles. The four item-derived characteristics
which, according to the item analysis reported in the
manual, are the best indicators of each style are given
in Table 16, together with the descriptors from the
LSP manual (Jackson 2002).
The four LSP styles, with the strengths and weaknesses
claimed for each in the LSP manual (Jackson 2002)
are listed in Table 17.
The initiator style is thought to be linked with Gray’s
(1982) Behavioural Activation System (BAS), which
initiates approach behaviour when there is a chance
of reward, whereas the reasoner style is thought
to have a basis in Gray’s Behavioural Inhibition System
(BIS), which inhibits behaviour in response to cues
associated with punishment. Following Cloninger
(1993), the analyst style is seen as a self-regulatory,
goal-oriented tendency which serves to maintain
interest in a problem so that it can be thoroughly
understood. No neuropsychological basis is claimed
for the implementer style, which is seen as a logically
necessary addition if plans are to be carried out.
The LSP is intended for use with adults, and has been
standardised in the UK on 1394 people aged between
20 and 60+. It is intended for use in a wide range
of settings, but the emphasis so far has been placed
on business organisations.
Evaluation
Reliability
Internal consistency reliability for each of the four
scales is provided in the manual (Jackson 2002),
on the basis of three studies, the largest of which
involved 1524 people. In that study, the alphas were
in the range 0.72 to 0.75. Test–retest reliability for
42 students over a 10-week period was: 0.85 for
initiator, 0.47 for reasoner, 0.74 for analyst and 0.73
for implementer. In another study involving 61 students
who were tested in their first and third college years,
the figures were: 0.63 for initiator, 0.52 for reasoner,
0.75 for analyst and 0.73 for implementer. These figures
can be taken as moderately encouraging, with the
exception of the reasoner scale.
Validity
Factorial validity for the styles is claimed on the basis
of a four-factor solution for 400 students. This reveals
some problems with nearly half the items, either
because of low loadings or because of higher loadings
on other scales. The latter problem is most acute
with the initiator scale, since six of the items are
more closely aligned with the analyst scale. The items
with the highest loadings on each factor are generally
those listed in Table 16 below, with the exception
of the initiator scale. In this case, the four items which
appear in Table 16 all had higher loadings on the
analyst scale. The four highest-loading initiator items
emphasise spontaneity, fun and excitement, which
is consistent with Jackson’s summary descriptors.
On balance, it seems that some further refinement
of items is needed, especially in the initiator scale.
The initiator and reasoner styles are, on theoretical
grounds, expected to act against each other. This
idea is partially substantiated by a negative correlation
of –0.28 between their respective scales. The
opposition of introversion and extraversion is reflected
in a negative correlation of –0.50 between the initiator
and reasoner scales. As might be expected from
inspection of the items, there is some overlap between
the reasoner and analyst scales, reflected in a positive
correlation of 0.38.
Although the LSP style names closely resemble
those used by Honey and Mumford (2000) in their
Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ), the construct
validity of one or both instruments is called into
question by a study involving 817 New Zealand workers.
None of the correlation coefficients obtained were high.
The percentages of shared variance for the four pairs
of scales are shown in Table 18.
Jackson argues that this is a positive finding since
other researchers such as Swailes and Senior (1999)
and Duff and Duffy (2002) have concluded that the
Honey and Mumford LSQ is a poor measure of learning.
However, it is also possible that the style names
chosen by Jackson are not good descriptors of the
underlying constructs.