A factor analytic study of Hill's Cognitive style inventory

Abstract

Purpose: While it was beyond the scope of this study to scrutinize the conceptual framework of the Educational Sciences, or other measuring instruments that are used in Oakland Community College's test battery to map students' Educational Cognitive Styles, the factor structure of the Cognitive Style Inventory, which is used to assess Educational Cognitive Style was, in fact, questioned. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to identify and delineate those factors present within the area of measurement of the Cognitive Style Inventory. Method of Research: This investigation was conducted as a factor analytic study of H ill's Cognitive Style Inventory. The population for the study consisted of 48,773 students who were enrolled at Mountain View College, Dallas, Texas, during the academic years of 1973-74, 1974-75, and 1975-76 (including summer sessions). Demographic data for this population were collected and synthesized in the form of a student profile summary. Of the total population, a sample of 4,437 students were administered the Cognitive Style Inventory using a teletype IBM Computer Terminal. Each student responded to the randomly generated three-point scale items by selecting "U" for usually, "S" for sometimes, or "R" for rarely. Numerical values were assigned to each response and a final score was generated for each of the 27 attributes by summation of all items for an attribute. The 4,437 inventories (each containing 216 items) were used to derive means, standard deviations, and the correlation coefficient matrix for the 27 attributes assessed by the Cognitive Style Inventory..