Summary. Research into qualitative differences in students' approaches to study, the quality of learning outcomes, and the relations between them has, in the main, been conducted on learning resulting from involvement in small academic tasks such as reading an academic article. This study, based on a sample of 122 first year university nursing students, focused on student learning on the whole course. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesised relationship between approach and outcome at the course level. In the process, an indicator of qualitative differences in learning outcomes at the course level was developed. The results also provided further support for the validity of three subscales of the Approaches to Study Inventory, and cast further doubt on the use of assessment results as measures of learning outcomes.
