# Toward Questionnaire Complexity Reduction by Decreasing the Questions
## 2 The State of the Art
### Benefits and Inconveniences of the Learning Styles  
It is well known that students learn differently since factors can affect their learning process. Taking this into account, several learning methodologies have been designed to optimize the efficiency of prioritizing the learning process [14; 15; 16; 17; 18]. Rather than being focused on fixed learning traits, it must be highlighted that the CHAEA [2], as a LSQ, focuses on the experiential learning process. Thus, personal change and development are measured by the model [11; 19; 20]. This way, any educational area, for children or adults, may use learning styles in that specific context. In particular, the CHAEA has been applied to different university areas to study their student's learning styles, such as Medicine [21; 22; 23], Psychopedagogy [24], Engineering [25], or Law [26]. In the specific case of the engineering field, learning styles have been considered in recent years. As previously mentioned, Computer Sciences subjects have been analyzed to study the learning styles' evolution [4] and their possible correlations with grades [3] using CHAEA. But the CHAEA has not been applied to Computer Sciences degrees: the Forest Engineering degree was assessed using it by employing a cross-sectional, descriptive, and non-experimental design involving 120 engineering students [27], while other degrees, such as Computer Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Electromechanical Engineering, and Renewable Energy Engineering, have been inspected, evaluating a total of 170 students, to investigate the relationship between learning styles and academic performance [25]. As may be deduced, the CHAEA has been used in many research studies, both praising its benefits and criticizing the inconveniences of learning styles. For example, it was used to recognize the discrepancies between the learning style preferences of students and teachers [28] to identify psychoeducational characteristics [29] and to create a recommendation system [30], or to analyze the gender, performance, and development of engineering university students [27]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline
**Score** & **Active** & **Reflector** & **Theorist** & **Pragmatist** \\ \hline Very high & 14–20 & 19–20 & 16–20 & 17–20 \\ High & 11–13 & 18 & 15 & 15–16 \\ Moderate & 9–10 & 15–17 & 11–14 & 11–14 \\ Low & 7–8 & 12–14 & 8–10 & 9–10 \\ Very low & 0–6 & 0–11 & 0–7 & 0–8 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Level score for each learning style in the CHAEA questionnaire. Regarding the inconveniences of the LSQs, early investigations have revealed that LSQs do not have a predictive ability [31], there is no evidence of construct validity that has been observed in the LSQ scale [32], and there is little reliability and validity for the LSQ and its variable dimensional structure [33]; even the LSQ is inadequate for assessing individual learning styles [11]. Other works have summarized that there is no obviousness to the benefits of using LSQs [34], and this fact suggests a lack of proof in including LSQs due to the distinct thoughts and knowledge acquisition processes [35]. There have also been reports on the inadequate operation of many of the investigations used to show the usefulness of LSQs [36]. However, although many researchers have tried to discard the usefulness of LSQs, they still are widely accepted today [37], and their benefits and inconveniences have been intensely discussed [38]. Regarding their strengths, it can be distinguished that LSQs may be used as a starting point in order to meet a group of students in a more effective way. It is important to remark that learning styles preferences for a given person do not have to be the best efficient study process for that person. Additionally, the way that a person learns should not be assign to a certain class of stated learning style [39]. Furthermore, the context may have an impact in the learning process. This way, depending on that context, the application of the learning styles might be varied [40].