The effects of cognitive style and modality of study on achievement in self-paced auto-tutorial instruction

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of cognitive style and mode of study on achievement in self-paced, auto-tutorial instruction. Although previous research indicated that cognitive styles were influential in the learning process, clear and definitive findings concerning the interactive effects of cognitive style and of mode of study were not available. An initial pool of 251 Basic Medical Specialist students was tested with the Group Embedded Figures Test to ascertain their cognitive styles. From the initial pool, 119 students with clearly identifiable field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles were administered the experimental treatment. Approximately thirty students of each cognitive style were randomly assigned to either individual or group modes of study using a Training Extension Course self-paced lesson. Upon completion of the lesson, the students were administered a posttest which served as the criterion measure in this study. The posttest scores and additional data such as GEFT score, formal education, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery General Technical and Skilled Technical Scores, mode of study, lesson exposure time and dates of the experimental treatments were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer program. The data were submitted to a two-way analysis of variance which revealed that the main effect of cognitive style was significant at the p > .001 level; however, mode of study was not. The field-independent students scored significantly higher on the achievement posttest than the field-independent students regardless of mode of study to which they were assigned. The interaction effect between cognitive style and mode of study was not statistically significant. Further analysis of the data using multiple regression analysis showed that cognitive style, years of completed formal education and learning aptitude contributed to the regression on the criterion scores at the .05 level; however, these variables accounted for only 11 percent of the variance in the criterion measure.