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CAP LEARNING STYLES SURVEY
Introduction
How you learn and how others learn will affect your immediate and future organizational life. Knowing something about how you prefer to learn, we believe, may help you organize the training and development of those with whom you work and the design of your own learning. The CAP Learning Styles Survey (LSS) is designed to assist you in identifying your particular learning style.
Directions for Completion of the LSS
On the following pages, you will find a series of statements that pertain to learning styles. Read each one and check the category that most accurately describes the way you believe you actually learn, not the way you want to be. As you read each item on the survey, you may feel that some are more difficult to answer than others. Learning style is a complex notion; thus, responding to items concerning one's learning style may require some time and reflection. Feel free to give as much thought as you like to each of your responses. Remember: Your results are only valuable to the extent that they reflect reality; there is no benefit to you in distorting your answers to reflect what you wish it would be.
When you have completed the survey, follow the instructions in the scoring section that begins on page 13 to score your answers. DO NOT READ AHEAD before you complete the questionnaire since this may bias your answers. Finally, when you have scored your data, there are three illustrative cases in the last section of this document which you can use to practice interpreting a set of scores before you begin to analyze your own.
There is an on-line version of this instrument as well, if you prefer, at
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Prepared by Gail Pearl and James Clawson. Copyright © 1987 by the Darden School Foundation.
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CAP LEARNING STYLES SURVEY
Directions: The following statements measure some aspects of an individual's learning style. Please rate the extent to which you agree with each statement in terms of how accurately it describes YOUR learning style. Please answer all items.
SA = strongly agree, A = agree, SLA = slightly agree,SLD = slightly disagree, D = disagree, SD = strongly agree
STATEMENTS / SA A SLA SLD D SD- When I have to do something new,I first try to learn somethingabout the activity before takingaction.
- My most memorable learning experiences center on interacting with a charismatic person.
- Learning means discovering facts abouthow things operate.
- Immediate applicability is not the most important component in learning.
- I often try to emulate managers that I admire.
- Solving problems by trying different approaches until you findthe one that works is a great way to learn.
- I enjoy learning from a more experienced person who cares for me.
- I prefer to test theory over discovering that something can be applied practically.
- It is important to "look the part."
- The best way to learn is to try to solve a problem.
- "General Manager," "bureaucrat," and "leader" are all roles that one can learn about by trying to behave like them.
- Real learning involves having an experience and then making sense of it.
- When I find something that works for me, I tend to employ that technique regardless of its acceptance by others.
- Often one only realizes that onehas learned long after the fact
- When I join an organization, I often don't learn things explicitly until later when I realize I have grown.
- I don't necessarily rely on professional standards of conduct; I do whatever it takes to get my job done.
- I prefer not to think about learninguntil after I have done something; then I can understand what I have learned.
- I like learning through the scientific method: formulate problems, collect data to get at those problems, and apply the information.
- I have to feel comfortable with a concept before I will apply it in my work.
- I enjoy tackling a problem and solving it quickly.
- I never jump into an activity without some sort of preparation.
- Most situations are opportunities to engage and solveproblems.
- When ideas are presented, I like to digest them before implementation.
- The best kind of learning is when you get the idea first and then get to go try it out.
- Learning is important in order to know what happens when things occurthe way they do.
- A very good way to learn a new job is to listen to what others have to say about that job.
- The best way to learn something for meis from a more experienced colleague.
- My most memorable learning experiences come from solving problems.
- Learning from experienced people provides the easiest, most productiveway of learning.
- When it comes to learning, the theorycomes first and then the application.
- To learn a new role, a person should act as if they know what that role is about.
- I would say that I am very theory oriented; I like creating models of theory and testing them out.
- I usually seek out a senior colleague when I have questions or need toknow something new.
- My most memorable learning experiences happen when I later understand by "putting it all together."
- It is important that I exemplify the professional standards of the organization in which I work.
- Learning involves hearing a new idea, letting it settle in, and then trying it out.
- The quicker one finds out what solves a problem, the quicker one learns.
- I am more interested in doing whatever it takes to get results than I am in learning from others.
- One of the best ways to learn is to make sense of what you have already done.
- When it comes to learning, I prefer working with a more experienced colleague who can teach me.
- A very important part of joining a new organization or taking a new job is looking the part.
- To learn how to be effective in anew job, one has to fit the mold of that job
- Learning involves looking back andmaking sense of what you have already done.
- Learning is a rational process; one defines the problem and then gathers the information one needsto solve it.
- At work I usually look to statements of professional conduct as guides for what to do.
- My most memorable learning experiences involve meeting new standards of excellence.
- I often "learn" something when Ilook back and realize that I have done it effectively.
- When learning new concepts, I often think of what a manager I admire might do in the learning situation.
- The classroom is a good place tolearn; there you are told what youare supposed to learn.
- The rational approach to learning is the best: observe, conceptualize, and apply.
- Real learning is planning what youare going to learn and then doing it.
- If I wanted to be a manager, I would want to behave like a manager.
- When I join a new organization, I usually look for an experienced person to teach me the ropes.
- Often one cannot know what one has learned until well after one has experienced something.
- I think much like a scientist: I first define a problem, then I like to test out the idea by collecting data.
- I prefer to learn by trying things out until I find the one that works.
- When I have an unfamiliar task to complete, I may seek out someone whom I believe is an effective worker for help.
- I prefer to learn from my pastexperiences.
- The best kind of learning is analytic: first, you identify a problem; second, you collect data; third, you form conclusions.
- I study concepts first; then I try them out.
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THE THEORY
Researchers from a variety of disciplines, including business, social science, and education, have found that people learn in different ways. They have reported that people possess some kind of general framework for organizing, understanding, and pursuing learning activities. This framework may include one's choice of learning activities, the use of resources, the order for the development of complex learning, the role of teachers, etc. Out of this knowledge base has come a number of instruments that are designed to measure learning style. Each instrument, by definition, captures some data and ignores other data.
We wanted to capture data relating to a conceptual framework developed by Professor Gib Akin of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and so developed the Learning Style Survey (LSS). The LSS, unlike many other instruments pertaining to learning style, is based on a qualitative study of managers in various business functions. Mr. Akin has reported this research in an article entitled "Learning Themes" for Organizational Dynamics published in 1987. In that study, Akin interviewed sixty people for an average of two hours each, addressing such topics as the knowledge or attitudes that were most important in achieving success and the personal determinants of managerial excellence.
From this as Mr. Akin calls it "ethnographic" approach, he identified several distinct "learning themes." We think of these themes as structures or patterns through which an individual PREFERS to pass when confronted with a learning situation. Surely we humans have considerable flexibility in the ways in which we CAN learn, yet if we can move through a learning experience in our preferred way, we believe we are likely to learn more efficiently. The learning patterns which Akin identified and highlighted are described below.
Mentoring. The person who possesses this theme of learning describes his or her learning experiences in terms of emulating some specific person or mentor. A learner is enacting the mentoring theme when he/she organizes situations according to who an exemplary figure (or figures) is and what he or she is doing.
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Role Taking. A person enacting the role-taking theme focuses on adopting and behaving according to some external standard like an organizational standard of conduct or professional standard as proposed in the management literature. Conceptual frameworks rather than interpersonal examples guide the learner's behavior. A role-taking person uses formal management development seminars or materials from other sources to elaborate his/her personal standards.
Practical Accomplishment. The person who learns through practical accomplishment focuses on problem solving. The "practical accomplisher" is less interested in becoming a particular type of person and more interested in learning from "doing whatever it takes to get the job done." Take, for example, the engineer who wants to create something. Wanting to be unbiased, the engineer avoids investigating what others have done and creates using skills that have worked for him before. This person learns from successes and failures.
Validational. For the validational learner, action precedes conceptualization. The validational learner acts first; then the action is later validated or confirmed by a specific person or professional source. While the initial action involves learning, the learning cycle is completed only when a person looks back, observes what he or she has learned, and names the learning. In a management seminar, for example, a manager may be heard saying: "Now I understand. I've actually been using contingency theory all along." The validational theme is similar to practical accomplishment insofar as engagement and doing are emphasized; however, for the validational learner, complete learning occurs as a result of the validatory experience.
Anticipatory. Anticipatory learners conceptualize before they act. People who use the anticipatory theme tend to focus on getting concepts and models to use in taking action, although the learning cycle is complete only in the application of the model and finding, through practical experience, that "what I thought I knew fell into place." Most formal education is organized according to this theme. Anticipatory learners are similar to the role-taking learners, but their pre-behavioral learning mechanisms are principles and rules rather than role definitions or standards.
Scientific. For the scientific learner, the preferred learning method is to observe, sift through the observations to draw conclusions, then to experiment to generate additional data. A person in this mode wants to know how things work because just knowing about things is desirable. On the surface, this theme appears similar to the anticipatory theme, although the difference in these two themes lies in the relevance of the learning. In the scientific theme, practical applicability is less important. Basic researchers seem to fit in this category often.
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As mentioned previously, learning styles are complex. Indeed, we hypothesize that, while one may have a predominant learning style, one more than likely uses a number of these themes at various stages of a career. It is also quite possible that learning style may vary according to the content of what one is trying to learn. For example, one may enact problem solving strategies (i.e., the practical accomplishment style) when learning a new computer program and anticipatory strategies when learning concepts in the area of finance. As you score and review your own results, keep these notions in mind.
Scoring
Scoring the LSS is a relatively simple procedure. There are five scoring guides, one for each page of the survey and one summary recording form. Here's how to score your survey:
- On the left side of page nine is the scoring guide for the first page/first 20 questions of the survey. Fold this page in half vertically and line up the question numbers on page 1.
- At the top of each scoring guide you will see the values associated with each of the possible responses on the survey scale (SA=6, A=5, SLA=4, SLD=3, D=2, SD=1). These are the values that you will use in scoring your answers. For each of your responses on the first page of the survey, determine the scale value and write it on the "score" line. For example, if you checked "A” or “Agree" for item number one, you would write the number "5" under score for that item. If you checked "SD” or “Strongly Disagree" for item one, your score would be "1."
- Score the remaining survey pages in the same manner. There is a scoring page for each section of 20 questions in the survey.
- On the scoring forms, you have probably noted that there is a concept associated with each item. These are the categories under which each of your responses is organized on the score summary recording form. Complete the score summary recording form (Figure 1) by writing the score for each item under the corresponding category. For example, if your scores for items two, five, and seven on the survey were 5, 4, and 5, respectively, the first three numbers in the Mentoring column would be 5, 4, and 5.
- When you have finished transcribing your scores, sum all values in each column to derive your scale score. (There are ten items per scale, so the average score (AVG) would be the scale score divided by ten.)
- A scale score can range from a minimum of ten to a maximum of sixty. High values on a scale are associated with strong agreement and low values with strong disagreement. If your score is, for example, 55 on mentoring, you probably enact that style very often when in new learning situations. If your score is around 30 in the scientific domain, your agreement position was moderate. In this case, you didn't feel strongly either way (i.e., agreement or disagreement) about this learning style. Perhaps you use these strategies occasionally or in just a few situations. Finally, if your score on practical accomplishment is around 15, then you mainly disagreed with statements concerning practical accomplishment and you probably wouldn't use those strategies in learning situations.
- Plot your summed scores on the CAP LSS profile (Figure 2). For each dimension you have a score that ranges from 10 to 60. Locate the position of your score on the vertical lines and connect each point by drawing a horizontal line.
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