The Development and Validation of Scales Assessing Students' Achievement Goal Orientations

Carol Midgley, Avi Kaplan, Michael Middleton, Martin L. Maehr, Tim Urdan, Lynley Hicks Anderman, Eric Anderman, Robert Roeser

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

504 Scopus citations

Abstract

Achievement goal theory has emerged as a major new direction in motivational research. A distinction is made among conceptually different achievement goal orientations including the goal to develop ability (task goal orientation), the goal to demonstrate ability (ability-approach goal orientation), and the goal to avoid the demonstration of lack of ability (ability-avoid goal orientation). Scales assessing each of these goal orientations were developed over an eight year period by a group of researchers at the University of Michigan. The results of studies conducted with seven different samples of elementary and middle school students are used to describe the internal consistency, stability, and construct validity of the scales. Comparisons of these scales with those developed by Nicholls and his colleagues provide evidence of convergent validity. Confirmatory factor analysis attests to the discriminant validity of the scales.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)113-131
Number of pages19
JournalContemporary Educational Psychology
Volume23
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1998

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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