Anthony F. Grasha

A Rational Approach to Developing and Assessing the Construct Validity of a Student Learning Style Scales Instrument

Summary An instrument, the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS), was developed to assess six student learning styles. These styles are Independent, Dependent, Avoidant, Participant, Collaborative, and Competitive. A “rational approach” was used to develop the GRSLSS and evaluate its construct validity. The process included professional and student inputs in special procedures for selecting scale items and designing criterion items. The utility of this approach is considered and problems critiqued. The rational approach yielded relatively high temporal reliability coefficients (range across scales r = .76 to r = .83; N = 269) and numerous meaningful correlations between criterion items and scale scores.

Integrating Teaching Styles and Learning Styles with Instructional Technology

present instructional modules on a variety of topics. Web pages allow teachers to post lec tures, assignments, and exams in an elec tronic format; the World Wide Web and electronic libraries provide rich sources of information for almost any discipline. PowerPoint slides provide interesting visual presentations, and the telephone and television bring guest experts from distant locations into a classroom. Course information can be accessed from a dis

The Dynamics of One-on-One Teaching.

Abstract A comprehensive model of the dynamics of one-on-one teaching is described. Adoption of specific teaching styles is influenced by the learning styles of students; the interest in faculty to build interpersonal relationships with learners; teacher need to control the task; the capability of students; and situational constraints. In clinical settings, thesis work, and other areas, faculty preferred the use of Personal Model, Facilitator, and Delegator teaching styles. Relative to classroom teaching, these styles were used more frequently and the Expert and Formal Authority Styles were less prominent. This is consistent with the goals of one-on-one teaching to develop the ability of learners to work independently.

PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS, WORKLOAD, AND HUMAN ERROR IN A SIMULATED PHARMACY DISPENSING TASK

Participants filled 42 orders on a task designed to simulate components of filling prescriptions. Task factors included objective workload of 70- versus 80-min. to complete the task and perceptions of workload dimensions using the NASA Task Load Index. The proportion and pattern of data-entry, counting, and product-selection errors were compatible with those found in pharmacy field-sites. Significant other relationship stress, field-dependence, and an 80-min. workpace predicted data-entry errors. Mistakes in product selection were associated with low GPA, high social stress, the NASA Task Load Index dimension of less concern with performing well, and a 70-min. workpace. Relationship of data to corresponding information in the pharmacy literarure and to assumptions of a cognitive-systems performance model was discussed.

Workload, error detection, and experienced stress in a simulated pharmacy verification task

The relationships among workload, stress, and performance efficiency are topics of applied interest and theoretical importance to researchers concerned with human performance. Such interest extends to a variety of occupational areas including inpatient, outpatient, and community pharmacies. In that context, these relationships have become a consumer health issue given concerns that workload contributes to job stress and a significant decline in dispensing accuracy. In the present study, 102 trained college-aged individuals evaluated simulated pharmacy prescriptions for errors under conditions of either low workload (72 orders over 120 min. on task) or high workload (120 orders over 120 min. on task) in a high-fidelity simulated pharmacy environment. Overall, cumulative and detection theory indices of error detection were compatible with estimates from pharmacy field studies. When rates of sensitivity and specificity for detection were examined, substantial variations in the identification of errors (sensitivity) and difficulties with detection of data-entry mistakes were observed in the high workload condition, but only modest effects emerged for the low workload condition. Although increases in objective workload were associated with modest declines in detection accuracy, objective workload did nor significantly affect negative mood (Mood Adjective Checklist) or perceived workload (NASA-Task Load Index) as expected.

Personality through metaphor: Optimism, pessimism, locus of control, and sensation seeking

In two experiments, several personality attributes evident in metaphors people use to describe everyday experiences were examined. Subjects either generated (Experiment 1) or endorsed (Experiment 2) a metaphor that represented their views about six facets of their lives (e.g., work, relationships, graduating). In self-generated metaphors, content analyses of the metaphors revealed that attributes of optimism (e.g., looking forward to the future) and pessimism (e.g., cynicism) were significant components of metaphor content. Also, modest relationships were found between the themes of optimism contained within their metaphors and scores on an optimism scale of a questionnaire designed to evaluate the optimistic and pessimistic orientations. In a second study, subjects endorsed how strongly preselected metaphors represented important aspects of their lives. These preferences were significantly related to their scores on an optimism/pessimism instrument and a locus of control inventory. These results support the notion that metaphors, like other creative productions, may prove a useful vehicle for studying personality characteristics. They also provide evidence for the construct validity of the optimism and pessimism questionnaire.

Using Astrology to Teach Research Methods to Introductory Psychology Students

A classroom demonstration designed to test an astrological hypothesis can help teach introductory psychology students about research design and data interpretation. The activity illustrates differences between science and nonscience, the role of theory in developing and testing hypotheses, making comparisons among groups, probability and statistical significance, and the complications involved in interpreting research data.

AUTOMATIC-CONTROLLED INFORMATION PROCESSING AND ERROR DETECTION IN A SIMULATED PHARMACY-VERIFICATION TASK

The relationships between attentional variables and information-processing demands of pharmacy dispensing tasks that contribute to difficulties in cognitive performance are not well-known. In the present study, a psychological approach to medical dispensing errors, the cognitive-systems performance model of Grasha, was employed to evaluate the contributions of individual differences in attention and alterations in visual task information on simulated pharmacy-verification performance, perceived workload, and self-reported stress. 73 college-age volunteers completed a pretest battery containing psychological measures of automatic and controlled information processing, and one-week later spent 265 min. completing the end visual-inspection process for 200 simulated prescriptions, 27% of which contained artificially inserted errors. Evidence suggesting that both automatic and controlled processes underlie performance of a simulated pharmacy-verification task was obtained. Individual differences in controlled information processing were mildly predictive of detection accuracy, while contrary to expectations, automatic processing scores did not produce significant relationships. Detection associated with experimental alterations in font size (12-pt. vs 6-pt.) of critical prescription label information was partially in line with expectations from the cognitive-systems performance model, while additional visual enhancements via a magnification/illumination device yielded mixed results. Finally, reports of perceived workload (NASA Task Load Index) and specific patterns of self-reported stress (Dundee Stress State Questionnaire) were consistent with a three-tier behavioral framework offered recently by Matthews, Davies, Westerman, and Stammers for predicting behaviors along the automatic-controlled continuum.

IMPROVING ACCURACY IN SIMULATED PHARMACY ASSEMBLY TASKS USING WORKSPACE INTERVENTIONS TO ENHANCE THE COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENT

In this study, the error-reducing effectiveness of two work-environment interventions was examined in a simulated pharmacy task. 110 participants worked for 3 to 4 hours filling approximately 110 orders for simulated drugs in a laboratory-based, controlled environment. One group of participants used a monitor-mounted copy strip to enhance data entry, and another group used the copy strips as well as labeled product sleeves on stock bottles to enhance product selection. Results indicated that participants who worked using copy strips as well as participants who worked using both copy strips and product sleeves were more accurate in their order-filling performance than participants in the control condition. However, participants in the copy strip and the copy strip/sleeve conditions did not differ from one another in accuracy. Further research ideas and potential explanations of these data are discussed.

Motivation in vigilance - A test of the goal-setting hypothesis of the effectiveness of knowledge of results.

This study tested the prediction, derived from the goal-setting hypothesis, that the facilitating effects of knowledge of results (KR) in a simple vigilance task should be related directly to the level of the performance standard used to regulate KR. Two groups of Ss received dichotomous KR in terms of whether S’s response times (RTs) to signal detections exceeded a high or low standard of performance. The aperiodic offset of a visual signal was the critical event for detection. The vigil was divided into a training phase followed by testing, during which KR was withdrawn. Knowledge of results enhanced performance in both phases. However, the two standards used to regulate feedback contributed little to these effects.