A Rational Approach to Developing and Assessing the Construct Validity of a Student Learning Style Scales Instrument

TLDR

The Grasha‑Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales assess six styles: Independent, Dependent, Avoidant, Participant, Collaborative, and Competitive. The study aimed to develop the GRSLSS and evaluate its construct validity, while assessing its utility and critiquing potential problems. A rational approach was employed, incorporating professional and student input to select scale items and design criterion items for construct validity assessment. The instrument showed high temporal reliability (r = .76–.83) and strong correlations between criterion items and scale scores.

Abstract

Summary An instrument, the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS), was developed to assess six student learning styles. These styles are Independent, Dependent, Avoidant, Participant, Collaborative, and Competitive. A "rational approach" was used to develop the GRSLSS and evaluate its construct validity. The process included professional and student inputs in special procedures for selecting scale items and designing criterion items. The utility of this approach is considered and problems critiqued. The rational approach yielded relatively high temporal reliability coefficients (range across scales r = .76 to r = .83; N = 269) and numerous meaningful correlations between criterion items and scale scores.