Approaches to learning – contextual or stable in nature? Details Author(s) details Title Professor First name Sari Surname Lindblom-Ylänne Affiliation University of Helsinki, Finland   Contact author  e-mail address Sari.lindblom-ylanne@helsinki.fi Abstract: The presentation focuses on research on approaches to learning of university students. There is a rich body of research on students’ approaches to learning in which different methodological approaches have been applied to explore the nature of and the variation in approaches to learning. In my presentation I will explore the effects of the applied research method on the achieved results, in particular from the point of view of the contextuality versus stability of the approaches to learning.   The data were collected by using both student interviews and a questionnaire, more precisely the Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ). The data were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively by using a follow-up design in which students filled in the questionnaire twice, before and after a course.   The results showed that when exploring the approaches to learning by applying factor analyses and ANOVAs or t-tests, no major changes in students’ approaches to learning we found. However, more detailed analyses of students’ questionnaire answers at the individual level showed great variation both at the factor level and at the item level. While some students scored significantly higher on one approach to learning, other students scored significantly lower on the same approach after the course. In addition, a small group of students showed no variation in their scores on this approach to learning. These changes to two different directions seemed to overrule each other. Student interviews shed more light on the reasons why the students changed their approaches to learning or why they did not change them during the specific course.   There is contrasting evidence of the nature of students’ approaches to learning. Some argue that they are stable in nature and others consider the approaches to learning as dynamic and contextually varying. These different views could be explained by the different methodological designs of the studies. The majority of studies investigating approaches to learning have applied questionnaires and carried out statistical analyses, mainly factor analysis and comparisons of either factor scores or scale means. It can be concluded that this kind of a research approach is not enough to explore the variation or the development of the approaches to learning during university studies. The unit of analysis should be an individual student and the possible changes in his or her answers at the two points of data collection process.     Keywords: Student learning, approaches to learning, research methods