Performance Approach Goal Orientation – is associated with achieving positive outcomes and successful task accomplishment. Mastery Goal Orientation – has a focus on improving oneself as a function of task pursuit, and is often associated with deep-level processing and drive to learn and understand material (e.g., expanding one’s knowledge). Seven items were written to measure each of the three dimensions below. This can be composed of mastery goal orientation, performance approach goal orientation, and performance avoid goal orientation. Goal Orientation – reflects the purpose, or type of goal that a person aims to achieve when pursuing a particular task (Elliot et al., 1999). Extrinsic Motivation – is based on the anticipation of some other, external reward, Individuals with a high level of intrinsic motivation are less interested in learning itself, but motivated because with a college degree they are more likely to obtain a high-paying job or promotion at work. The process of learning itself is internally motivating for individuals with a high level of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic Motivation – is based on a drive to learn and accumulate knowledge. For the purposes of this data collection ten items were written to measure intrinsic motivation and ten items were written to measure extrinsic motivation. This is based on Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). In this study student satisfaction was collected one year after Need for Cognition was measured.Īcademic Motivation focuses on the reasons that students go to college. Six items were written for the purpose of conducting this study. Student Satisfaction – is the extent that students are satisfied with their experiences at the university. In this study College GPA was collected one year after Need for Cognition was measured. Scores were taken from admissions records.ĪCT Scores – ACT scores were gathered from university records.Ĭollege GPA – is cumulative, college grade point average on a 4.0 scale. High School GPA – is cumulative, high school grade point average, on a 4.0 scale. You will need to re-code them prior to running the analyses. Note that several of these items are reverse-scored. Items were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree), and higher scores indicate higher levels of the construct. People with a high need for cognition tend to enjoy problem solving, abstract reasoning, and enjoy complex situations/problems. Need for Cognition –described as a drive to understand situations and the world around us (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982 Cacioppo et al., 1984). Report discriminant validity evidence using Extrinsic Motivation (ExtMot), Performance Approach Goal Orientation (AppGO), Performance Avoid Goal Orientation (AvdGO), and Social Desirability (SocDes). Report the incremental validity estimate of nCog above and beyond High School GPA (HS_GPA) and ACT Scores (ACT) in predicting Student Satisfaction (StudentSat).Ĭonstruct-Related Validity Report convergent validity evidence using Intrinsic Motivation (IntMot) and Mastery Goal Orientation (MGO). Report the incremental validity estimate of nCog above and beyond High School GPA (HS_GPA) and ACT Scores (ACT) in predicting College GPA (CollegeGPA). Report the criterion-related validity estimate for nCog using Student Satisfaction (StudentSat). Estimate test-retest reliability for nCog – data were collected 2 weeks after the original nCog data (NCOG_T2).Ĭriterion-Related Validity Report the criterion-related validity estimate for nCog using College GPA (CollegeGPA). Reliability Estimate Coefficient Alpha for nCog using the items in the data set. In other words, explain your findings in sufficient detail so that another person could understand what you examined and why. Provide an interpretation of what the results mean.
Write a report explaining your findings for each of the questions above. To answer each of these questions, run the analyses using SPSS and report relevant information in your write-up (i.e., the reliability or validity coefficient). Your tasks for this assignment are described below. Within the data file you will find raw scores for nCog items, as well as composite scores for several other variables (see page 2 for descriptions). For this exercise, your task is to estimate the reliability and validity of a measure of Need for Cognition (nCog Cacioppo & Petty, 1982 Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984).Īn SPSS data file is included in the assignment folder, with responses from 294 college students.