The Kolb Learning Style Inventory—Version 3.1 2005 - Whitewater ...

In addition, ipsative tests can provide external validity evidence comparable to normative data (Barron 1996) or in
some cases even better (Hicks 1970). For example, attempts to use normative rating versions of the LSI report reliability
and internal validity data but little or no external validity (Pickworth and Shoeman 2000, Geiger et al. 1993,
Romero et al. 1992, Marshall and Merritt 1986, Merritt and Marshall 1984).
Characteristics of the LSI Scales
The LSI assesses six variables: four primary scores that measure an individual’s relative emphasis on the four learning
orientations—Concrete Experience (CE), Refl ective Observation (RO), Abstract Conceptualization (AC), and Active
Experimentation (AE)—and two combination scores that measure an individual’s preference for abstractness over concreteness
(AC-CE) and action over refl ection (AE-RO). The four primary scales of the LSI are ipsative because of the
forced-choice format of the instrument. This results in negative correlations among the four scales, the mean magnitude
of which can be estimated (assuming no underlying correlations among them) by the formula -1/(m - 1) where
m is the number of variables (Johnson et al. 1988). This results in a predicted average method- induced correlation of
-.33 among the four primary LSI scales.
The combination scores AC-CE and AE-RO, however, are not ipsative. Forced- choice instruments can produce scales
that are not ipsative (Hicks 1970; Pathi, Manning, and Kolb 1989). To demonstrate the independence of the combination
scores and interdependence of the primary scores, Pathi, Manning, and Kolb (1989) had SPSS-X randomly fi ll
out and analyze 1000 LSI’s according to the ranking instructions. While the mean intercorrelation among the primary
scales was -.33 as predicted, the correlation between AC-CE and AE-RO was +.038.
In addition, if AC-CE and AE-RO were ipsative scales, the correlation between the two scales would be -1.0 according
to the above formula. Observed empirical relationships are always much smaller, e.g. +.13 for a sample of 1591
graduate students (Freedman and Stumpf 1978), -.09 for the LSI 2 normative sample of 1446 respondents (Kolb
1999b), -.19 for a sample of 1296 MBA students (Boyatzis and Mainemelis 2000) and -.21 for the normative sample
of 6977 LSI’s for the KLSI 3.1 described below.
The independence of the two combination scores can be seen by examining some example scoring results. For
example, when AC-CE or AE-RO on a given item takes a value of +2 (from, say, AC = 4 and CE = 2, or AC = 3 and
CE = 1), the other score can take a value of +2 or -2. Similarly when either score takes a value of +1 (from 4 -3, 3-2,
or 2-1), the other can take the values of +3, +1, -1, or -3. In other words, when AC-CE takes a particular value, AE-
RO can take two to four different values, and the score on one dimension does not determine the score on the other.
12 LSI Technical Manual