ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an examination of efforts to expand the knowledge base of self-direction by reviewing the quantitative measurement of the adult learning iceberg through written instruments. Two instruments Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) and Oddi Continuing Learning Inventory (OCLI) have played a major role in making self-direction one of the most extensively researched areas in adult education during the decade of the 1980s. The SDLRS has played a major role in making it possible to quantitatively measure self-reports of learners’ tendencies toward self-direction. These instruments are limited by the way in which they define the meaning of a construct, such as is the case with the SDLRS relative to those learners who are not oriented toward the books or formal learning. As a way of providing an alternative measure of self-direction in learning, Oddi developed the OCLI.
