RESEARCH NOTE Validating the learning styles questionnaire and inventory of learning processes in accounting: a research note

Abstract

This study, using third-year undergraduate business students as subjects, examined the reliability and validity of Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles Questionnaire and Schmeck's Inventory of Learning Processes. The predictive validity was assessed by relating scores on the subscales of the instruments to academic achievement as measured by students performance under two different methods of assessment. Internal consistency was measured by the alpha coefficients which ranged from 0.51 to 0.74 for the LSQ and from 0.53 to 0.74 for the ILP, suggesting moderate internal consistency. Factor analysis of the items of both instruments did not reveal any coherent factor structure congruent with the underlying constructs. No significant relationship was found between academic performance and scores on any of the subscales of the two instruments. The limitations of, and implications for, the use of both instruments by accounting education researchers are discussed.