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Aim. The aim of the present series of studies was to investigate what motivates undergraduate students and how their motivation changes during their degree course. The present research investigated both subject specific and generic motivators by asking students what knowledge areas, skills and experiences were important to them.
Sample. Study 1: 336 prospective and current undergraduate psychology students at a university in southern England. Study 2: 57 year one psychology students from a university in the north of England. Study 3: 30 undergraduate psychology students from the university used in Study 1.
Method. The studies used a modified version of the Radford and Holdstock (1993) scale to assess students' objectives in taking a degree programme, by rating the importance of knowledge areas, skills development and experiences. Study 1 used a cross-sectional design comparing responses of student by year of study. Study 2 compared responses of students in year one in Study 1 to students at a second university. Study 3 used a longitudinal design to investigate changes in values by year of study.
Results. The findings suggest that there are two types of students: those who are motivated by the discipline itself and those who are motivated by the acquisition of more general skills and experiences. The perceived importance of many aspects declines over the three years of the degree, and seems especially low in year two. However, some aspects, notably research methodology, and some skills and experiences show marked increases in the final year.
Conclusions. Current theories of educational motivation need to be extended to account for the difference between subject-related and generic motives.
Surprisingly little is known about what motivates university students: why they embark on their studies in the first place, what changes take place during the course of their studies and what factors influence their motivation. The research reported in this paper constitutes an attempt to answer some of these questions while at the same time throwing light on theoretical approaches to motivation.
Motivational theorists often divide motivation into three components: expectancy, value and affect (e.g., Pintrich, 1989). Expectancy involves students' beliefs about their own ability to perform the task; value refers to students' goals and beliefs about the task, and what aspects of it are important to them; and...