INDEPENDENT, HOLISTIC AND SENSORY PREFERENCE COGNITIVE STYLES AND GRIT AMONG FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

INDEPENDENT, HOLISTIC AND SENSORY PREFERENCE COGNITIVE STYLES AND GRIT AMONG FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

INDEPENDENT, HOLISTIC AND SENSORY PREFERENCE COGNITIVE STYLES AND GRIT AMONG FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

 

By

 

BELEMA, S F.

+234-7035550058

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&

 

 

PROF. T. A. JAMABO

 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY,

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING,

UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

 

&

 

PROF. C. J. UGWU

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY,

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING,

UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

 

 

Abstract

The study was on independent, holistic and sensory preference cognitive styles and grit among final year undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt. Three objectives guided the study. The study adopted correlational research design. The population consisted of 8, 240 final year students. The sample comprised of 1000 undergraduates drawn using Multi-stage Samling Procedure. The Factors of Grit Questionnaire (FGQ) and Duckworth Grit Scale (GRIT-S) were used as instruments. Validation of the instrument was carried out using experts analysis. In terms of reliability the study, employed Cronbach Alpha method. The relaibility indices for the Factors of Grit (FGT) scale range between 0.69-0.82 and 0.61 for the Duckwoth GRIT-S. The mehod of data analysis was simple regression. The result of the study showed that there is a significant relationship between field independent cognitive style (p = 0.026 < 0.5) and holistic style (p = 0.036< 0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant relationship between sensory prefence cognitive style (p = 0.545 > 0.05). It was recommended among others that teachers and counsellors should encourage field independent styles among students.

 

Keywords: Iindependent learning styles, holistic learning styles, sensory preference learning styles, Grit

 

 

Introduction

Education has long been recognized as a vital key to unlocking the development of nations. It is one of the major instruments for bringing about socio-political, economic, scientific and technological advancement of any country. In the words of Olatunji et al (2016), some educators over the years have argued that entry standards are the most important determinants of success in universities; others maintain that non-academic factors must also be considered. This implies that, there is considerable evidence that the views and expectations about success held by lecturers and students are not always consistent. Fadokun (2009) asserted that schools are established with the aim of impacting knowledge and worldwide institutions have come to be recognized as centers of knowledge accumulation and knowledge transfer with students being the most essential asset for any educational institute.

 

As important as education is, its immediate benefits are not easily discernible just as its actual direct and indirect costs are difficult to quantify in monetary terms. However, one thing that all nations are worried about is the quality or standard of education offered in their schools right from elementary through secondary to tertiary institutions of learning. Schools, especially tertiary institutions, are complex social systems. The inputs such as infrastructure, funds,  students, teachers, facilities and so on into the school system are processed or converted by way of lectures, readings, seminars, counselling, interaction with colleagues and other social activities and the outcome is expected to be enlightened, cultured, educated, nationalistic and self-disciplined graduates. A number of problems may exist within or outside the educational institutions that could make it difficult for the intended outcomes to be achieved.

 

According to Peretomode and Ugbomeh (2013), while higher education institutions experience some degree of difficulty in the pursuit of their vision, mission and goals, those associated with institutions in developing countries, as in Africa, are numerous. Some of these problems include lack of accommodation, dearth of experts in most engineering, medical, technological and information and communication technology disciplines. There are also problems of classroom spaces, lack of laboratories, poorly stocked libraries and most seriously poor funding compounded by large number of student intakes that far outstrip available facilities and staff. In all these, the unimaginable effect is on the students especially those in the final year who will as a matter of necessity need adequate infrastructure to complete their projects. The forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE: 2001), for example, reported that admission of students into the Makerere University rose from 3,361 in 1993/ 94 to 14,239 in 1999/2000. Similarly, the World Bank study on African Universities (2003) identified enrolments as a major problem. It stated that enrolments are often increasing faster than the capacity to plan for and finance growth. The forum also pointed out that the university student population on the African continent grew to 61 percent between 1980 and 1990, rising from 337,000 to an estimated 542,000. It further observed that there is general agreement that educational quality is declining as a result of increased enrolment and/or reduced funding. In all these problems, the problem often associated are reflected in the quality of students produced.

Furthermore, Reddy, et al (2008) had stated that for the longest time, people assumed that the student population was the least affected by any sort of stress or problems. Academic stress has been identified as the primary cause of these alarming figure. Lee & Larson (2000) explains stress as an interaction between environmental stressors, student’s appraisal and reactions for the same. It has now become a grave reality that it is termed as a “career stopper” (Kadapatti & Vijayalaxmi, 2012). It therefore, becomes a significant cause of concern as it is symptomatic of rising mental health concerns in India (Nadamuri & Ch, 2011). No matter how much students struggle in their first and second years of university, final-year students always say the worst is yet to come.  In an era of rising academic standards, more students than ever will struggle and fail. Succeeding in school especially in the final year is rather like succeeding in life. It’s really much more about the individual than it is about school or level. So, the most important place to start is to consider why one is where they are, what matters to them, and what they expect to get out of it. According to O’ Brain (2017), even if you have already thought about these questions, it’s good to reaffirm your commitment to your plan as you begin to consider what’s really involved in being a college student.

Students who have long term life and career goals see school as one step towards achieving their goals. This can set a purpose and a direction for students. It can increase students’ day-to-day and semester-to-semester motivation because they see that each course is part of a greater whole that will help them in the future. This can also help with persistence, with keeping at it when things are tough. There will be challenges during the school years. There may be times students feel like giving up or they just don’t feel like going to class, reading their textbook, or writing that paper. Having that purpose, that long term goal can help one decide to move past that challenge and keep going. We call this resiliency.

Grit is passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievement, with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way. It combines resilience, ambition, and self-control in the pursuit of goals that take months, years, or decades. Fessler (2018) stated that intelligent quotient (IQ) was not the only factor separating successful students from those who struggled, and that grit is also a strong predictor of success.  According to Baruch-Feldman (2017), grit also involves the individual’s ability to persist in something they feel passionate about and persevere when you face obstacles. This kind of passion is not about intense emotions or infatuation. It’s about having direction and commitment. When one have this kind of passion, one can stay committed to a task that may be difficult or boring. Credé, et al (2016) noted that grit has been presented as a higher-order personality trait that is highly predictive of both success and performance and distinct from other traits such as conscientiousness. they also noted that one additional non-cognitive variable that has received widespread attention and that has been widely touted as an important predictor of success and performance, is a personality trait referred to as grit (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Grit is defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals” and as such not just resilience in the face of failure, but also having deep commitments that you remain loyal to over many years (Duckworth as quoted in Perkins-Gough, 2013). Duckworth et al. argue that grit can help to explain why some individuals perform better than their scores on ability tests might predict, and that grit was a core contributor to the success of highly accomplished individuals such as Albert Einstein. Recently, Duckworth (2013) has even argued that grit is as good or even a better predictor of success than cognitive ability.

 

Despite the widespread enthusiasm for grit as a potentially novel predictor and determinant of performance, there are sound empirical and theoretical reasons why a critical reappraisal of the nature of the grit construct, its contribution to our understanding of performance, and its general position within the nomological network may be warranted. Grit is typically operationalized as a higher-order construct with two lower-order facets: “perseverance of effort” and “consistency of interest”. These two facets (hereafter referred to as perseverance and consistency), respectively refer to the tendency to work hard even in the face of setbacks and the tendency not to frequently change goals and interests. Both are thought to contribute to success. Persistence because the process of attaining mastery in a field often involves initial failures that the individual must persist through, and consistency because many hours of deliberate practice are normally required to achieve mastery (Ericcson, et al, 1993). That is, individuals who either disengage their efforts in the face of obstacles or who constantly change their interests are unlikely to ever engage in enough deliberate practice to achieve high levels of performance. Although some researchers examine perseverance and consistency as two separate constructs, most research on grit only reports findings at the level of the overall grit score. This practice appears to be informed by two factors. First, Duckworth et al. (2007) in their discussion of the two facets state that neither factor was consistently more predictive of outcomes than the other, and in most cases, the two together were more predictive than either alone”.

 

Proponents of grit as a predictor of performance have argued that between-person differences in grit can help to explain why two individuals with the same level of ability in a particular domain are often observed to perform at substantially different levels. Specifically, individuals with high levels of grit are thought to be able to better utilize their capabilities because they are less distracted by short-term goals and less discouraged by the failures and setbacks that are commonly encountered in many performance domains. Indeed, Duckworth et al. (2007) described that the importance of grit for success had long been noted by prior research into highly accomplished individuals (e.g., Howe, 1999). Arguments for the importance of grit are also in line with work on the development of expertise that has highlighted the importance of sustained deliberative practice (Krampe & Ericcson, 1996). Indeed, recent work by Duckworth, et al (2011) has explicitly tied grit to success in spelling bees via the mediating mechanism of deliberative practice. That is, individuals who are high on grit are more likely to engage in the amount of deliberative practice that is required to achieve expertise. At the same time, there are a number of theoretically plausible moderators of the grit-performance relation that suggest that the relation may not be strong in all or even most settings. First, the grit-performance relation may be moderated by the nature of the performance domain. Specifically, high levels of grit may be most useful when the task is difficult but well defined; that is, high levels of sustained effort and deliberative practice are required to succeed and the manner in which performance is to be attained is relatively clear (MacNamara et al, 2014).

 

Cognitive styles are the information processing habits of an individuals. It is a concept used in cognitive psychology to describe the way individuals think, perceive and remember information. Bransford, et al (2000) asserts that cognitive style differs from cognitive ability (or level), the latter being measured by aptitude tests or intelligence tests. It is usually described as a personality dimension which influences attitudes, values, and social interaction.  Unlike individual differences in abilities, cognition describes a person's typical mode of thinking, perceiving, remembering, or problem solving. Cognitive style is the manner by which individuals perceive information in the environment and the patterns of thought that they use to develop a knowledge base about the world around them. The concept of styles of cognition, an area under continuing investigation, has been discussed and researched in the psychological community as early as the late 1930s. Knowledge gained concerning cognitive styles provides the opportunity to learn more about individual differences. This knowledge can then be applied to assist teachers, counselors, and all professionals who are involved in children's learning experiences. There are various cognitive styles in which individuals exhibit and each of them according to psychologist may affect learning in separate ways;

Most prominent is the concept of field dependence and independence. These are concepts in the field of cognitive styles. Field dependence/independence was the earliest studied area in the study of cognitive styles. In general, people who exhibit field dependence tend to rely on information provided by the outer world, the field or frame of a situation and their cognition (toward other things) is based on this overall field. No other cognitive style has been more researched in our history than that of field dependence-independence. As noted, Field dependence-independence describes the extent to which the surrounding framework dominates the perception of items within it. The surrounding organized field influences a person's perception of items within it. A person perceives part of the field as a discrete form, the organization of the prevailing field determines the perception of its components. A person perceives analytically. When field dependents interact with stimuli, they find it difficult to locate the information they are seeking because other information masks what they are looking for. 

Similarly, holistic or analytical cognitive styles is one of the styles individuals adopts in the process of learning new information. This is defined as an acceptance of the idea that every element in the world is interconnected. This cognitivists are characterized by dialectical reasoning and involves understanding a system by sensing its large-scale patterns and reacting to them. Individuals with hholistic thinkers held the notion that events are the products of both internal and external forces and situations. They tend to give broad attention to the big picture, context, relationships, perceptions, conflicts, and background elements in visual scenes. Most often, individuals sometimes refer to holistic learners are the student type who is deep and contemplative. This type of students are smart over-achievers who sometimes come across events as scatterbrained and disorganized. Moreso, can sometimes become annoyed by their own brain. It is obvious that those with holistic brains need to take their time when encountering a new concept or a new chunk of information. It takes a while for a holistic thinking person to allow new concepts to be understood. Holistic individuals are that they dwell on information and make constant mental comparisons when they encounter new material. They may also like to compare new concepts to concepts they already know, even as they read, using mental pictures, similes or analogies. Finally, holistic people seem to be frustratingly slow when it comes to answering questions. This is the trait that makes students reluctant to raise their hands in class. These type of learners are particularly good at evaluating and breaking down information.

Stein (2011), also identified the sensory cognitive style. According to him, this is the process that organizes sensation from one's own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. The sensory cognitive styles in specific sense deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory modality inputs, such as proprioception, vision, auditory system, tactile, olfactory, vestibular system, enteroception, and taste into usable functional outputs. It has been believed for some time that inputs from different sensory organs are processed in different areas in the brain. The communication within and among these specialized areas of the brain is known as functional integration. Todman  (2008) observed that newer research has shown that these different regions of the brain may not be solely responsible for only one sensory modality, but could use multiple inputs to perceive what the body senses about its environment. Multisensory integration is necessary for almost every activity that we perform because the combination of multiple sensory inputs is essential for us to comprehend our surroundings. It has been believed for some time that inputs from different sensory organs are processed in different areas in the brain, relating to systems neuroscience. It can be seen that sensory-specific cortices are activated by different inputs. There exist studies suggesting deeper multisensory convergences than those at the sensory-specific cortices, which were listed earlier. Sensory processing deals with how the brain processes sensory input from multiple sensory modalities. These include the five classic senses of vision (sight), audition (hearing), tactile stimulation (touch), olfaction (smell), and gustation (taste). Other sensory modalities exist, for example the vestibular sense (balance and the sense of movement) and proprioception (the sense of knowing one's position in space) Along with Time (The sense of knowing where one is in time or activities). It is important that the information of these different sensory modalities must be relatable. The sensory inputs themselves are in different electrical signals, and in different contexts. Vanzetta and Grinvald (2008) stated that through sensory processing, the brain can relate all sensory inputs into a coherent percept, upon which our interaction with the environment is ultimately based. There is a large body of research about sensory modality preference. A sensory modality is a system that interacts with the environment through one of the basic senses. The most important sensory modalities are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

 

Entwistle (1997) noted that that time factor may prevent students who would prefer to seek understanding from being able to adopt the deep approach consistently. He argues that adopting a deep approach involves a substantial investment of time, and students have to tread a wary path between their academic interests and time pressures created by deadlines, workload and their own personal concerns. In the view of Thomson and Falchikov (1998), they stated that students have level of stress because of their perception of a lack of time. They stated that: students appeared to be aware that, if they manage their time effectively, they will be able to deal with assessments in a way that will help their learning and understanding of the subject, which is consistent with a deep approach. However, they rarely succeed in managing their time this way, and end up rushing assignments and feeling that they are approaching the work superficially.

Finally, a vision is a mental picture of the result that in individual wants to achieve. It is a picture so clear and strong which will help to make the result real. A vision is not a vague wish or dream or hope. It’s a picture of the real results of real efforts. It comes from the future and informs and energizes the present. Visioning is the most powerful tool which is helpful to organizations and individuals achieving what they want. According to Graham (2020), the practice of using visions is mainstream. Some companies use visions to communicate their values and goals. Professional sports teams use visioning exercises to improve performance (there are studies showing that basketball players who practice free throws only by “envisioning” the ball going through the hoop improve their shooting percentage almost as much as those who actually throw the ball). The director of a play might “envision” a perfect production before rehearsals begin. Graham (2020) also noted that a vision inspires action. It pulls in ideas, people and other resources. It creates the energy and will to make change happen. It inspires individuals and organizations to commit, to persist and to give their best. It is also noted that a vision is a practical guide for creating plans, setting goals and objectives, making decisions, and coordinating and evaluating the work on any project, large or small. It is something that helps to keep organizations and groups focused and together, especially with complex projects and in stressful times. Developing the school's vision and mission are two of the most important steps toward creating a successful program. Done well, they give clarity and direction for a school. A muddy vision or mission can help lead to continuing conflicts, and a school that has difficulty identifying priorities. “Without a vision, the people perish.” Sometimes people think defining a school’s vision and mission are relatively unimportant, and can be done quickly. This is a very wrong assertion and mentality. Developing the school’s vision and mission are two of the most important steps toward creating a successful program which if done well, give clarity and direction for a school. A muddy vision or mission can help lead to continuing conflicts, and a school that has difficulty identifying priorities may dwindle in progress. A vision is more than broad, flowery statements. The vision helps people understand how you hope others will view you, and describes some of your highest priorities. It is not enough for a small group of people to create a vision and mission. Students, faculty and families need to understand a school’s vision and mission. The school’s faculty and board of directors should periodically review both the vision and mission statements. It is important that if students especially final year students are to hold on to their level of grit, they may need to develop a good vision of who they want to be and the level of achievement they need to attain.

Muhammad, Sarojini Daniel and Abdurauf (2015) carried out a study on cognitive styles field dependence/independence and scientific achievement of male and female students of Zamfara State College of Education Maru, Nigeria. This study revealed that there is significant relationship between Male and Female students Field dependence and Field independence and their academic achievement, the findings also indicates that cognitive styles (Field dependence/Independence) is a significant predictor of scientific achievement in Male and Female student of Biology and Integrated science students of Zamfara State College of Education Maru. Although this study was on academic achievement of the students in science, the present study will focus on grit which is synonymous to student achievement of theory goals. Also, this study was carried out in Zamfara state, the present one will be based on undergraduate in Rivers state.

 

Also, Christopoulou, Lakioti, Pezirkianidis, Karakasidou, and Stalikas (2018) studied the Role of Grit in Education: the researchers searched Google Scholar to identify relevant research from 2012 to 2017. Finally, positive variables, such as hope, positive affect and family relationships can foster grit. However, a deeper understanding of the grit construct is essential to distinguish it from facets of the conscientiousness dimension of personality. The usefulness of findings for policy makers and education professionals is discussed, as well as the importance of reinforcing grit in the educational community in order to nurture character in students and enhance their potential.

 

In a related study, Onyekuru (2015) studied Field Dependence-Field Independence Cognitive Style, Gender, Career Choice and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State. It was found that; A higher proportion of the male respondents were field independent while a higher proportion of the female respondents were field dependent; There was a significant relationship between field dependence-field independence cognitive style and gender; Field independent students had a higher mean achievement in sciences than the field dependent students while field dependent students had a higher mean achievement in arts than the field independent students; There was a significant relationship between field dependence-field independence cognitive style and career choice of the students. Based on these findings, appropriate recommendations were made.

 

In a similar manner study, Bazelais, Lemay and Doleck (2016) examine whether grit is associated with academic performance in science college students. Grit was not found to be a significant predictor of student academic achievement or course success.

 

Alhadabi and Karpinski (2019) studied Grit, self-efficacy, achievement orientation goals, and academic performance in University student. After IRB approval, university students in the U.S. were invited to participate via emails and social media posts. Findings supported the positive relationships between mastery, approach goals, and academic performance, as well as the negative association between avoidance goals and academic performance. The model revealed that self-efficacy may play supportive and protective roles by increasing the positive effect of mastery and performance-approach goals and reducing the negative effect of avoidance goals on academic performance, respectively. These novel findings support the contribution of ‘grit’ in predicting various academic outcomes.

 

Nwanze, Izondeme, Ezeanya (2021) investigated cognitive style as a determinant of academic achievement of secondary school science students in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra state. The results revealed that the predominant cognitive style among science students was the field dependent style and that field independent students achieved significantly higher than field dependent students. The study also revealed that cognitive style is a significant determinant of the secondary school students’ achievement in science. The study recommended that field dependent and field neutral students who are already studying science or who hope to choose sciences later should be exposed to other science achievement determinants that can boost achievement and be trained to develop those personality structures and skills.

Jachimowicz, Wihler, Bailey and Galinsky (2018) also carried out a study on why grit requires perseverance and passion to positively predict performance. A final study measured perseverance and passion attainment in a sample of students (n = 248) and linked these to their grade-point average (GPA), finding that the combination of perseverance and passion attainment predicted higher GPAs in part through increased immersion. The present results help resolve the mixed evidence of grit’s relationship with performance by highlighting the important role that passion plays in predicting performance. By adequately measuring both perseverance and passion, the present research uncovers grit’s true predictive power.

Salles et al. (2017) carried out a study on grit’s ability to modestly predict completion of military training prompted research into potential connections between grit and healthcare residency programs that face costly problems of attrition. While there were insufficient data and relatively few participants in these studies to draw conclusions on grit’s ability to predict residency completion, evidence that both medical students and current residents have above average levels of grit suggests that lasting fortitude is common in those pursuing a post-graduate medical degree (Burkhart, 2014; Kelly et al., 2017).

 

Lam and Zhou (2019) examined the Examining the relationship between grit and academic achievement within K-12 and higher education: A systematic review. The study aimed to review and synthesize past empirical findings on the relationship between grit and academic achievement. Forty-four relevant articles involving a total of 60,133 participants met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized in this meta-analysis. The findings suggest that (a) overall grit level and its two facets (consistency of interest and perseverance of effort) are positively associated with academic achievement; (b) the association between grit and academic achievement is moderated by grade level; and (c) perseverance of effort shows the largest effect size on students’ academic achievement when compared with overall grit level and consistency of interest.

From the observation of the researcher, it is noted that undergraduates, especially in final year, in Nigerian universities have been passing through a lot of challenges. These challenges ranges from challenges of project writing, coping with hectic study, rounding up every other academic activities, as well as preparing themselves to face the real world when they graduate. These have contributed either positively and negatively to the psychological well-being of the students. In all these ills, it has in one way or the other affected their level of willpower to complete their programmes, the level of motivation that they need to finish as well as the perception of their abilities to finish the program in an excellent manner may seem to be a mirage as there are limitations or factors that may pose challenges to them. These problems have also led to their inability to develop certain characteristics to cope with school.  As a result of this, most of them have written off completing their studies. Furthermore, some of them have dropped out, some have abandoned their clearance process, some have abandoned their final examinations, some have even accumulated excessive carryovers which in reality may not be possible for them to complete and as such have fallen out of school. To the females, this inability to develop some characteristics or to cope with these characteristics have forced them to present themselves as a price by giving themselves to some unmannered lecturers in terms of sex while on the other hand, some have spent huge amount of money just because they intend to reach their goal of graduation. In all these attendant problems, the illegally to achieve their goals. In all of these, in some way they may achieve while in most cases they may fall short of their expectation. Be that as it may be, the result of this negative or lack of realization of set goals have taken a toll not just on the students, it has also in one way or the other affected their parents, the school authority, the government as well as others.  It is obvious that from the background of the study, there are certain factors that influence the development of grit among students. Hence, the researcher is interested in investigating some cognitive styles as they relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers- State,

Aim and Objectives of the Study

Generally, the study seeks to investigate the relationship between independent, holistic and sensory preference cognitive styles and grit among final year undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt. In specific terms, the study seeks to;

1. Investigate if field independent cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.
2. Investigate if holistic cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.
3. Investigate if sensory preferences relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Research Questions

The following research questions served as a guide to the researcher in the study;

1. To what extent does field independent cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?
2. To what extent does holistic cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?

3.         To what extent does sensory preference cognitive style relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?

•  

The following hypotheses are formulated to be tested at 0.05 alpha level.

1. There is no significant relationship between field independent cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.
2. There is no significant relationship between holistic cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.
3. Sensory preference cognitive style does not have any significant relationship with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Methodology

The current study adopted the correlational design. The population of the study consists of final year undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt. During the investigation and preliminary data collection, it was discovered that there are 8,240 final year students across 13 faculties in the University (Source; faculty offices, 2021). This population is selected because they are within the scope of the study in terms of educational characteristics. Hence, they provided useful data necessary to complete the study. The sample of the study consisted of 1000 final year undergraduate drawn from the University of Port Harcourt as explained below. The researcher adopted the multi-stage sampling procedure in selecting the sample. At stage one, the researcher used simple random sampling procedure by ballot to select six (6) faculties out of the 13 faculties in the institution. Names of all the faculties were written in a piece of paper, folded and randomly handpicked. The names of the faculties revealed were the ones that was used for the study. At stage two, the researcher used similar technique to draw 5 departments from each of the five faculties. This gave a total of 25 departments across five faculties. At stage three, the researcher used purposive sampling technique to draw only final year students. At stage four, the researcher applied stratified non-proportionate sampling technique to draw 40 final year students from each of the departments. This gave a total of 1000 respondents in all. Finally, accidental sampling technique was used in the process of administering the questionnaire to the students in their respective departments.  The “Factors of Grit Questionnaire” (FGQ) as well as the Durkworth Grit Scale (GRIT-S) were used as instruments. Face validity was on the structure and accuracy of the instrument while the content validity considered the suitability of the instrument which was validated by the researcher’s supervisor and two other experts in the area of measurement and evaluation, Department of educational Psychology, University of Port Harcourt. The reliability of both instruments was determined using Cronbach Alpha method with reliability indices ranging from 0.71, 0.82 and 0.69 respectively. Also, the Duckworth Grit Scale had a reliability of 0.82. Simple regression was used to analyze the data generated. While R associated with the regression was used to analyze all the research questions. The ANOVA associated with the Regression was used to test the tenability of the hypotheses. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level.

 

 

Results

Research Question One: To what extent does field independent cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?

Hypothesis One: There is no significant relationship between field independent cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Table 1:          Simple Liner regression showing relationship between field independent and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.           

                               

Model		R	R Square		Adj. R Sq.		Unstnd. B
1		.414	.172		.170		0.010
Model		Sum of Sq.	Df	Mean Sq.	Alpha	F	Sig.	Result
	Regression	.668	1	.668	0.05	3.109	.026	Significant
	Residual	33888.41	996	34.025
	Total	33889.07	997

 

The table as shown above indicated that field independent cognitive style has a relationship of 0.414 with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. Calculated R² is 0.172, adjusted R² was 0.170 while unstandardized B value is 5.833. From the R² value, it is an indication that field independent/dependent account for about 17.2% (0.172 × 100) of grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. The unstandardized B value also indicates that as the value of field independent or dependent increases or decreased by one unit, there will be a corresponding increase or decrease of 0.010 unit in their level of grit. Calculated F was 3.109 while Sig. value was 0.026, Hence, since sig (p=0.026<0.05) is less than 0.05, the null hypotheses was rejected meaning that there is a significant relationship between field independent cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Research Question Two: To what extent does holistic cognitive styles relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?

Hypothesis Two: There is no significant relationship between holistic cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Table 2:          Simple Liner regression showing relationship between holistic cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Model		R	R Square		Adjtd R Sq.		Unstnd. B
1		.325	.106		.092		0.085
Model		Sum of Sq.	df	Mean Sq.	Alpha	F	Sig.	Result
	Regression	42.38	1	42.386	0.05	1.247	.036	Significant
	Residual	33846.69	996	33.983
	Total	33889.07	997

 

The table as shown above indicated that holistic cognitive style has a relationship of 0.324 with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. Calculated R² is 0.106, adjusted R² was 0.092 while unstandardized B value is 0.085. From the R² value, it is an indication that holistic/analytical cognitive style account for about 10.6% (0.106 × 100) of grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. The unstandardized B value also indicates that as the value of holistic/analytical cognitive style increases or decreased by one unit, there will be a corresponding increase or decrease of 0.085 unit in their level of grit. Calculated F was 1.247 while Sig. value was 0.036, Hence, since sig (p=0.036<0.05) is less than 0.05, the null hypotheses was rejected meaning that there is a significant relationship between holistic cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt

 

Research Question Three: To what extent does sensory preference cognitive style relate with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt?

Hypothesis Three: Sensory preference cognitive style does not have any significant relationship with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

Table 3:          Simple Liner regression showing relationship between Sensory preference cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt.

 

Model		R	R Square		Adj. R Sq.		Unstnd. B
1		.019	.000		-.001		0.029
Model		Sum of Sq	Df	Mean Sq.	alpha	F	Sig.	Result
	Regression	12.488	1	12.488		.367	.545	Insignificant
	Residual	33876.591	996	34.013
	Total	33889.079	997

 

Table 3 shows that sensory preference cognitive style has a relationship of 0.019 with grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. Calculated R² is 0.00, adjusted R² was -0.001 while unstandardized B value is 0.029. The R² value indicates that sensory preference cognitive style account for about 0% (0.000 × 100) of grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt. The unstandardized B value also indicates that if the value of sensory preference cognitive style will ever increase or decrease by a unit, there will be a corresponding increase or decrease of 0.029 unit in their level of grit. Calculated F was 0.367 while Sig. value was 0.545. Hence, since sig (p=0.545>0.05) is greater than 0.05 alpha, the null hypotheses was retained meaning that there is no significant relationship between sensory preference cognitive style and grit among final year students in the University of Port Harcourt

 

 

 

Discussion of Findings

 

From research findings one, it is found that field independent as well as dependent cognitive styles have a significant relationship with grit amount student in tertiary institutions. This finding means that the way and manner which individuals learn can influence their persistence towards achieving their personal goals. We should not forget the fact that field independent learners learn independently without the interference of the immediate environment. This means that they are not social learners but genetically inherent learners. What this means is that a student who is self-motivated to learn and who can also distinguish between the learning object and contents from the environment influences can certainly persist in achieving they are desired goals. In a similar manner, those who are social learners who depend on the environment to learn will also relate learning to achieving their personal goals. It is also noted that field dependent learners are more affected by the position or the environment in the process of learning. They are better at learning social materials and learning it in in relation to how the environmental situation wants them to be. On this regard, the implication of the finding means that whether a student is a field independent or dependent learner, both approaches to learning certainly has a relationship to them achieving their personal goals as student. The findings of the study means that a lot of student who adopt both the dependent and independent learning cognitive styles will still achieve their set or desired goals. In other words, in whatever cognitive style a student chooses or is inclined to learn with, this will certainly relate to how they achieve their personal goals or how they persist in achieving their personal goals. The findings of the study is not in any way surprising to the researcher because to the best of her knowledge, individuals with persistence will adopt various learning styles in the process of learning in as much as it lead them towards achieving their personal goals. This means that if individuals are to achieve their goals, whether they learn much from their environment or from their natural ability and intelligence to adapt to learning by themselves, this will certainly determine if they will persist in achieving their goals. The finding of the study however is in line with that reported by Wizitt (1971). Also, Tenant (1980) listed that field-dependent as well as independent learners have the ability to achieve their learning goals. In a similar way, Cup and Fry (1984) also noted that students can use all the learning styles in achieving their learning goals. All these findings are all suggestive of the fact that both learning styles are effective in assisting a student in learning better as well as being persistent towards achieving a goal which could be higher academic performance.

 

From research findings two, it is revealed that holistic and analytical cognitive learning styles have a significant relationship with grit among undergraduate student in the University of Port Harcourt. These findings means that individuals who take their time in digesting information and who focus on individual object, assigning them into categories based on their tribute can certainly persist in their bid to achieving their set goals and aspiration. On the other hand, the study also revealed that holistic individuals who instead of analysing event situation or learning objects tend to focus on the entire learning event and it relationship with people of phenomenon will as well persist in their bid to achieve their goals. In whatever circumstance, the findings suggest that both approaches are valuable and have a significant relationship with helping student to achieving their set goals. The findings of the study may come because most students with set goals who work towards achieving them will also likely develop or adopt any type of learning strategy that may help them to understand the subject or course which in turn will help them in achieving higher scores and consequentially reaching their sets target. The finding of the study is not in any way surprising to the researcher because to the best of her knowledge if student with set goals are confronted with difficult task or situation. They may either analyse the situation in order to have full understanding of them or if they do understand them relate them holistically towards solving a problem. The findings of the study is in line with that reported by Crytapol (2018) who reported similarity between student various learning styles and overall perseverance towards academic achievement.

 

From research findings three, it is revealed that sensory preference learning styles does not have any significant relationship with grit among student in the University of Port Harcourt. This finding means that whether students are able to organize information from their own senses or not, it does not significantly relate to them being persistent towards achieving their set goals. The finding also means that the pattern through which student process information either using the visual, auditory system, tactile interception as well as vestibular etc. does not relate with them developing persistent towards achieving set goal. The finding of the study is however not surprising to the researcher. This is because developing a strong will towards achieving something and also hanging on towards achieving them does not in any way (to the best of the researchers knowledge) rely on the senses of the individual. In other words, whether individual uses visual learning style or auditory learning style or kinesthetic learning style or even read-write learning styles according to VARK model, this may not determine if they will have the persistence and consistency in achieving their goals. For instance, if student use visual learning style to learn i.e. where they rely basically on what they can see, this would not mean that because they can see it then they will persist on achieving goals. Also, students who use the auditory learning style i.e. those who rely on what they can hear may even persist in achieving their goals more than those who use the visual learning styles or possibly those using kinesthetic learning style. This suggests that persistence does not depend on the senses but may be more dependent on the inner willpower to succeed in whatever and individual is doing. Furthermore, if individual develop the inner will power to succeed irrespective of the learning styles in which they adopt, such individuals may have their ability to achieve their desired goals. In a study carried out by White and Zipping (1971), it was revealed on the contrary that sensory learning styles do relate with the general achievement of students. They demonstrated this by showing that 22-30% of American students use auditory learning styles while about 40 % use visual learning styles and the remaining 32-40% use kinesthetic learning style. What this means is that all this sensory means of learning to them have a significant role to play in student learning outcome which consequentially will influence their persistency in achieving academic goals.

 

Conclusion

Grit is an important factor in the success of every individual. In the school system, it is the student level of grit that will help them to achieve what they intend to achieve. However, it is certain that there are some factors that may influence grit earthier positively or negatively and some of such include independent and holistic learning styles. In whatever way, it is certain that grit development is relative to a student.

 

Recommendations

Based on the findings, the study recommended that;

1. Since it is found that there is a significant relationship between field independent/dependent cognitive style and grit among final year students, it is recommended that teachers and counsellors should encourage both field independent and dependent students to utilize these various methods effectively while maintaining a strong will power towards achieving their desired goals.
2. It was also found that there is a significant relationship between holistic/analytical cognitive style and grit among final year students thus, in the same vein, both teachers and counsellors should encourage students using these cognitive styles to utilize them effectively while maintaining a strong will power towards achieving their desired goals.
3. Since there was no significant relationship between sensory preference cognitive style and grit among final year students, it is recommended that counselors and teachers should pay less attention to this style of learning as regards to grit among students as it has little or no effect on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

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