A person-centered investigation of patterns in college students’ perceptions of motivation in a course

Abstract

We investigated patterns of relationships among a sample of undergraduate students’ motivation-related perceptions in an Introductory Psychology course. Using cluster analysis (N = 552), we identified person-centered profiles of students’ perceptions of the course, including their beliefs about empowerment/autonomy, usefulness/utility value, expectancy for success, situational interest, and caring. We identified 4 profiles: (1) somewhat high class-based motivation with somewhat low success, (2) somewhat high class motivation with high empowerment and caring, (3) high class motivation, and (4) very high class motivation with high success. We examined whether the profiles were related to the course and instructor ratings, course effort, cognitive engagement, perceived cost, and choice of major. With a subsample of 355 students, we also investigated whether the profiles were related to students’ learning and final exam scores. This study extends person-centered research on student motivation by providing a multidimensional and dynamic illustration of patterns in individuals’ motivation-related perceptions.