Dissertation Abstract

The Effects of Learning Style On Academic Achievement in an Allied Health Radiography Program.

The attrition rate for students in allied health radiography programs across the United States has averaged 13.4% from 1995 - 1998. In the state of Texas, the attrition rate is 15.9%. Houston Community College System has the third largest radiography program in Texas and the highest attrition rate (46%) of the five programs in the Houston-Galveston area. A growing body of research suggests that students maintain higher academic retention when they are shown how to study and do work through their learning style strengths. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of teaching students to study through their preferred learning style strength on the academic achievement of radiography students.

This study was carried out through a co-variate posttest control group research design. Subjects (N = 52) consisted of a convenience sample of first year radiography students in the Houston Community College System, who were from 3 intact classes. The Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS) was the learning style inventory used. Academic achievement was measured by a standardized final examination with 171 multiple choice questions. An analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the final exam performance among the experimental and control groups while accounting for TASP score effect. The TASP scores were used as covariates. The ninety-five percent confidence level (p