Abstract:
A Study in Indices of Discrepancy between Students ‘Learning Styles and Their
Actual Grade Achievement at Masters’ Level
Every person has a preferred way of learning that is called Learning style. It is a
characteristic way of reaching to the solution of the particular problem. The present study
was conducted to find out the indices of discrepancy between students’ learning styles
and their actual grade achievement at the masters’ level. It was to find out which type of
learners is better in terms of actual grade achievement. The mean difference was also to
be found out between learning styles of male and female students, urban and rural
students, mean difference due to difference of fathers’ academic qualification, mothers’
academic qualification, and parents’ monthly income. All the students of Social Sciences
and Management Sciences studying in third and fourth semester in public sector
universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad constituted the population which was two
thousand and seventy six. Eight hundred and twenty students were chosen as sample. The
Stratified Random Sampling Technique was employed for selecting the sample. The
Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory Version III was used for assessing learning styles of
students. The students’ first two semesters’ results were used in order to find out the
grade achievement. Data were analyzed by using, percentages, T -test, and one way
ANOVA. After analysis it was found out that Divergent learning style was learning style
of majority of student irrespective of the department or subject. It was concluded that
there was a significant mean difference of learning styles in grade achievement at
Masters’ level. The divergent, assimilative, accommodative, and convergent learners
acquired higher grades respectively. It was also found out that residential location,
academic qualification of mothers, and monthly income of parents brought significant
mean difference in learning styles of students. No significant mean difference was found
between learning style of male and female students, Along with that no significant mean
difference was observed between learning styles due to academic qualification of fathers.
