What is the study about: The paper focuses on people who believe in learning styles (the idea that people learn best when instruction matches their dominant style: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). It uses psychological essentialism framework to asses do believers think learning styles are innate, and predictive of various life outcomes. In Study 1, participants first read a short definition of each learning style. Only those who believe in this idea continue to a questionnaire measuring seven dimensions of essentialist belief. The authors test whether the sample holds essentialist beliefs overall, and whether it splits into groups with different interpretations (essentializers vs. nonessentializers).
Suggested number of participants: 100
Can it be conducted online: YES
Mandatory data analyses: One-sample t-tests, k-means cluster analysis (2 clusters); MANOVA
Note: The sample only consists of people who believe in the concept of learning styles, all other participants are excluded from the analyses.
The CREP team advice:
Full paper link: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/edu-edu0000366.pdf
(The mentors are obliged to read the full paper before committing to the replication)
The survey has the following segments:
- Learning style descriptions
- Baseline question: do you believe people have learning styles?
- 15 essentialism items plus 5 control items (6-point scale, strongly disagree to strongly agree) – these questions are also in relation to learning styles (e.g. People are born with a predisposition to have a certain learning style; It is determined at birth how people learn best).
- Demographics
Results obtained in the paper:
Participants generally agreed that learning styles are predisposed at birth, detectable in childhood, mark distinct kinds of people, and predict career, school, and teacher fit. They generally disagreed that learning styles are determined at birth, unchangeable, inheritable, or detectable in the genes. The cluster analysis found two groups: essentializers (66%) and nonessentializers (34%), with essentializers scoring higher on nearly all items. Demographic factors did not predict group membership.