Learning Style Preferences Among Undergraduate Medical Students of Lahore, Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract
Background and Objectives: Learning styles is one of the key predictor for academic success of students.
This study was conducted with objectives to assess the learning styles of medical students using the VARK
Questionnaire and to study factors related to their learning style preferences.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study, using the validated 16-point VARK Questionnaire Version
8.01, was conducted among medical students in Lahore, Pakistan, from May to October 2023. Through nonprobability virtual snowball sampling, 360 students from various medical colleges responded to online
Google forms distributed via emails and WhatsApp groups. Data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed using
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26. The Chi-square test determined associations
between variables, with a significance level set at p < 0.05.
Results: The respondents had a mean age of 21.56±1.608. The study found that 68.9% preferred a unimodal
learning style, with visual (25%) being the most favored, followed by read/write (15.2%), aural (14%), and
Kinesthetic (13.5%). No statistically significant relationships were found between learning style and gender,
clinical year, schooling background, or institute type. However, significant relationships were found with
age, academic performance, and preferred teaching methodology (p=0.05, p=0.04, and p=0.007,
respectively).
Conclusion: The present study highlighted the independence of learning styles from demographics. The
identified relationship between learning styles, preferred teaching methodologies, and academic performance
emphasizes the significance of this knowledge for medical educators and students in fostering lifelong
learning. It is noteworthy that majority ofstudents demonstrated unimodalsensory preferences, reinforcing the
importance of tailored teaching strategies to maximize learning potential.
Keywords: Learning, style, VARK, Medical Education, Teaching Methods, Medical Students