The construct validity of scores on a Japanese version of the perceptual component of the Style Analysis Survey

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the psychometrics of the perceptual component of the Style Analysis Survey (SAS) [Oxford, R.L., 1993a. Style Analysis Survey (SAS). University of Alabama, Tuscaloona, AL]. The study is conducted in the context of questions over another perceptual learning-styles instrument, the Perceptual Learning Styles Preferences questionnaire (PLSP) [Isemonger, I.M., Sheppard, C., 2007. A construct-related validity study on a Korean version of the Perceptual Learning Styles Preference questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement 67 (2), 1–12; Reid, J.M., 1984. Perceptual Learning Style Preference questionnaire. Copyrighted by Reid. Available through Joy Reid, Department of English, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82070; Wintergerst, A.C., DeCapua, A., Itzen, R.C., 2001. The construct validity of one learning-styles instrument. System 29, 385–403], and questions surrounding the usefulness and operationalization of learning styles generally [Curry, L., 1990. A critique of the research on learning styles. Educational Leadership 48 (2), 50–55; Ferrari, J.R., 1996. Psychometric properties of the revised Grasha–Riechmann student learning style scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement 56 (6), 166–172; Furnham, A., 1992. Personality and learning styles: a study of three instruments. Personality and Individual Differences 13, 429–438; Goldstein, M.B., Bokoros, M.A., 1992. Tilting at the windmills: comparing the learning style inventory and the learning style questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement 52, 701–708; Moran, A., 1991. What can learning styles research learn from cognitive psychology. Educational Psychology 11, 239–245]. The study aimed to address the psychometrics of the perceptual constructs of the SAS, and by extension the issue of whether the problems with the PLSP are peculiar to the instrument or one instance of a more general problem with learning-styles instruments measuring perceptual constructs. The findings indicate possible problems with the perceptual constructs on the SAS, and raise the question of how well perceptual constructs operationalize.