A Comparison of Cognitive Styles on the Behavior of Obtaining Knowledge: Field Independence vs. Field Dependence

This paper compares the cognitive style of field independence/dependence (FI, FD) on the behavior of obtaining knowledge from online learning system. The process of obtaining knowledge is considered with respect to the involvement of knowledge provider´s and receiver´s cognition characteristics. The experiment is conducted where two groups with FI for one and FD for another are arranged. Data analysis results indicate that (1) FI group spends more time on the designed KO than FD does. For non-designed KO, contrarily, the FD group has more time spent than FI group. (2) FI style is more likely to acquire knowledge from internal sources while FD prefers external where they can perform social interactions as the primary means to acquire knowledge. (3) FI group is likely monotonous to stick firmly with common or preferred passive knowledge resources, on the other hand, the learning process of FD group seems to be more varied, and often passing through in-between several different knowledge sources. Discussion and implications are also addressed.