Quantitative Study Review: Nursing Student Learning Styles

Introduction and Study Purpose

The purpose of the study by Gonzales et al. (2017) was to describe graduate entry nursing students' learning styles. The research question was: "What are the predominant learning styles of graduate entry nursing students?" (Gonzales et al., 2017, p. 56). The study did not formulate any hypothesis prior to conducting the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) survey.

Sample and Participant Demographics

The sample for the study was obtained by recruiting 202 graduate entry nursing student volunteers at a southwestern university, making it essentially a convenience sample. No inclusion or exclusion criteria were discussed in the study; however, in order to participate, each participant had to be an entry-level graduate nursing student at the recruiting institution. The ILS was administered to six cohorts of entry-level graduate nursing students at the southwestern university from 2011 to 2015.

Of the 285 students to whom the study was explained and from whom consent was obtained, 202 completed participation; thus the dropout rate was under 30% over the five-year period. The demographics of participants were as follows: age range was 21–56 years, with a mean age of 28.93 years; 62% were female; 61% were Caucasian; and 63% came from an urban or suburban home.

Data Collection Method and Analysis

The method used to collect data was the ILS, which uses 44 items assessing learning styles across four dimensions. Results are provided on a scale of preferences, with binary responses, 11 items in each scale, and a total score ranging from −11 to +11 indicating the degree of preference for a given style. Responses were then rescored to facilitate statistical analysis: (a) items were assigned a value of 1, (b) items a value of 0, and scores were summed. Learning style preferences for active, sensing, visual, and sequential scales were indicated by scale scores of 6 through 11, while scores of 1 through 5 indicated reflective, intuitive, verbal, or global learning styles, respectively (Gonzales et al., 2017).

Descriptive statistics were then used to measure centrality, dispersion, and frequencies. No intervention was tested, and there was no random assignment of participants to a control group. The sample size was determined using computed sample size and margin of error software.

Key Findings

The main findings of the study were that the predominant learning styles among graduate entry nursing students were: sensing, preferred by 82.7% of students; visual, preferred by 78.7%; sequential, preferred by 65.8%; and active, preferred by 59.9% of students.

References

AbuAssi, N. E., & Alkorashy, H. A. E. (2016). Relationship between learning style and readiness for self-directed learning among nursing students at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 5(2), 109–116.

Brannan, J. D., White, A., & Long, J. (2016). Learning styles: Impact on knowledge and confidence in nursing students in simulation and classroom. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 13(1), 63–73.

Gonzales, L. K., Glaser, D., Howland, L., Clark, M. J., Hutchins, S., Macauley, K., ... & Ward, J. (2017). Assessing learning styles of graduate entry nursing students as a classroom research activity: A quantitative research study. Nurse Education Today, 48, 55–61.

McKenna, L., Copnell, B., Butler, A. E., & Lau, R. (2018). Learning style preferences of Australian accelerated postgraduate pre-registration nursing students: A cross-sectional survey. Nurse Education in Practice, 28, 280–284.

Vizeshfar, F., & Torabizadeh, C. (2018). The effect of teaching based on dominant learning style on nursing students' academic achievement. Nurse Education in Practice, 28, 103–108.