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The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among various aspects of learning styles/strategies and personality dimensions to arrive at a "thicker" description of individual differences in functioning in general and in the school context in particular. An exploratory factor analysis of the subscales of the Inventory of Learning Processes-Revised and the NEO-Personality Inventory provided evidence for convergent and discriminant validity of six higher-order common factors. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to differentially predict ILP-R subscales from NEO-PI subscales. The analyses were conducted separately for students identified as having high versus low academic self-esteem. The results support previous findings that self-concept variables strongly moderate relationships among personality and learning style dimensions. We discuss how the cross-fertilization between personality and learning theory and research enables us to better define what individual differences in learning consist of, how they originate, how they are manifested, what furthers or hinders their expression, and finally, to what extent they are amenable to change (maturation, development, training). Implications for school achievement, cognitive development and the productive use of individual differences in educational practice are discussed with regard to different types of learners.

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IntroductionThis paper examines the cost of quality improvements in Population Services International (PSI) Myanmar’s social franchise operations from 2007 to 2009.MethodsThe social franchise commodities studied were products for reproductive health, malaria, STIs, pneumonia, and diarrhea. This project applied ingredients based costing for labor, supplies, transport, and overhead. Data were gathered seven during key informant interviews with staff in the central Yangon office, examination of 3 years of payroll data, examination of a time motion study conducted by PSI, and spreadsheets recording the costs of acquiring and transporting supplies.ResultsIn 2009 PSI Myanmar’s social franchise devoted $2.02 million towards a 94% reduction in commodity prices offered to its network of over 1700 primary care providers. These providers retained 1/3 of the subsidy as revenue and passed along the other 2/3 to their patients in the course of offering subsidized care for 1.5 million health episodes. In addition, PSI Myanmar devoted $2.09 million to support a team of franchise officers who conducted quality assurance for the private providers overseeing service quality and to distributing medical commodities.ConclusionIn Myanmar, the social franchise operated by PSI spends roughly $1.00 in quality management and retailing for every $1.00 spent subsidizing medical commodities. Some services are free, but patients also pay fees for other lines of service. Overall patients contribute 1/6 as much as PSI does. Unlike other NGO’s, health services in social franchises like PSI are not all free to the patients, nor are the discounts uniformly applied. Discounts and subsidies evolve in response to public health concerns, market demand, providers’ cost structures as well as strategic objectives in maintaining the network and its portfolio of services.

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