The Learning Profile, a Screening Instrument for Adults: Development and Validity Studies (Employment, Industrial Training, Adult Education, Vocational)
Macomber, Janet Ann Whitson
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69093
Description
Title
The Learning Profile, a Screening Instrument for Adults: Development and Validity Studies (Employment, Industrial Training, Adult Education, Vocational)
Author(s)
Macomber, Janet Ann Whitson
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Vocational
Abstract
In adult learning settings, such as adult basic education, vocational training, community colleges, prisons, and industrial training, certain students and trainees may exhibit evidence of learning problems. At present there is no measuring instrument to screen effectively for adult learning problems. The purposes of this dissertation were to develop a screening instrument, Learning Profile (LP), and to conduct three validation studies. These studies compared the performance of the LP to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (WJPEB).
The LP is based on a composite psycholinguistic model of learning and it yields computerized results in the form of learning components derived from the items of the LP by means of a task analysis. For the three validation studies, the WAIS and the WJPEB were also task analyzed. The learning components common to the LP and the criterion instruments formed the basis of the validity investigation.
Two principal hypotheses were tested: (1) there is no relationship between the specific weak learning components found by the LP and the criterion instruments, and (2) there is no relationship between the specific strong learning components found by the LP and the criterion instruments.
The three studies were conducted at a state prison, a university, and a community college totaling sixty-four subjects for all studies. From a total of 682 common weak learning components found by the LP and the criterion instruments, the percents of matching across individuals for the respective settings were 99.22, 89.77, and 97.37. Similarly from the total of 2,596 strong learning components, the percents matching across individuals were 98.45, 99.50, and 98.91. But null hypotheses were rejected.
The results of this study provided substantial support for the construct validity of the LP. Although cautions were considered for self-reporting, the LP appears to offer an economical alternative for screening of adult learners in similar settings. Further studies exploring the utility of the LP in other organizational settings for learning, and its potential use for course planning and instructional delivery were encouraged.
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