University Students ' Perception of Their Own Academic Achievement Motivation: A Field Study

The aim of the present two-stage study was two-fold: first, to identify motivational themes thought of by university students themselves as to what causes their very high motivational learning states, and also their very low motivational states; and second, to determine the underlying dimensions affecting both of these states. Undergraduate students studying at a major government university in Jordan were used in this study. All of the subjects were from different colleges and were enrolled in an elective university course. 534 subjects were used in stage one of the study, and 304 other students were used in stage two. A modified version of the Critical Incidents Technique was employed to elicit various themes considered by university students as causes of states of very high and very low motivation to study. It was assumed that all that university students think of as learning-encouraging or learning-discouraging represents very high and very low learning motivational themes. Content analysis quantification was carried out in order to determine a university students ' motivational themes list. Using the Principal Component Analysis statistical technique to cluster-analyze the 14 very high motivational state themes resulted in four motivational dimensions. These dimensions are as follows: 1) self-determination, 2) positive academic attitudes, 3) need for social respect, 4) self-monitoring