E. Sadler-smith, Does the Learning Styles Questionnaire measure style or process? A reply to Swailes and Senior (19991), INT J SEL A, 9(3), 2001, pp. 207-214
Swailes and Senior's (1999) examination of the psychometric properties and
factor structure of the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) raised a number
of questions regarding the instrument's construct validity and the relatio
nship between learning style and learning process. Swailes and Senior argue
d that there may be three learning styles as opposed to the four posited by
Honey and Mumford (1986), however, they did not include a three-factor mod
el in their confirmatory factor analysis and hence it is unclear if a three
-factor solution represents an improvement on a four-factor solution. Furth
ermore, the present study draws a distinction between style and process and
an argument is presented which contends that the three-factor and four-fac
tor solutions represent process models, as opposed to the style models embo
died in Kolb's theory. This reply attempts to examine two- three- and four-
factor solutions for the LSQ. The evidence appears to favour the convention
al four-factor model, which may indicate that the LSQ measures individuals'
preferences for each of four stages of an experiential learning process an
d raises the question of its relationship with style per se.