Measuring Motivational Concepts and Personality Aspects in the National Educational Panel Study

Abstract

This chapter outlines the use and measurement of motivational concepts and personality aspects in the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The selection of concepts combines elements that prevalent motivation and personality theories have in common, thereby promoting research from different theoretical perspectives. The constructs measured are learning motivation and effort, personal goals and goal pursuit, general interest orientations, topic-related interests, self-concept (both general and domain-specific), personality aspects, and selected social skills and parenting behavior dimensions. These theoretical constructs and their corresponding measurements presented in this chapter were chosen on the basis of their applicability across the complete life course. Within NEPS, this integrated compilation of motivational concepts and personality aspects improves our understanding of educational processes and competence development from infancy to late adulthood.