Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
EURASIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, sa.42, ss.79-94, 2011 (SSCI)
Problem Statement: Motivation can be defined as a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic forces that are fundamental to both teachers and students and are significant determinants of the quality and efficiency of education. There is no adapted or original measurement tool that can be used to determine the factors and levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of primary school students in Turkey. Purpose of Study: The aim of this study was to adapt the Harter's scale to Turkish primary school students between the 3(rd) and 8(th) grades, to assess its reliability and validity, and also to analyze differential item functioning (DIF) by school type, class level, school financial condition, gender, education level of mother and father, and family financial status. Methods: A total of 979 students were selected from the 3(rd) through 8(th) grades of the public and private primary schools in Ankara. To assess the dimensionality of Harter's Scale, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for categorical data was carried out for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation components each. After CFA, the internal construct validity of the subscales of these components was analyzed by rating scale model. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Findings and Results: CFA confirmed the unidimensional structure of the intrinsic motivation component and the three-dimensional structure of the extrinsic motivation component. The internal consistency of the intrinsic motivation component was found to be 0.91, whereas the internal consistencies of the subscales (desire for easy work, desire to please the teacher, dependence on the teacher) of the extrinsic motivation component were 0.78, 0.81 and 0.78, respectively. Except for one item for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation components each, the internal construct validities of the scales were good. Some items for both components showed DIF by school type, class level, school financial condition, and family financial status, but there was no DIF by gender or education level of mother and father. Conclusions and Recommendations: Harter's scale has been successfully adapted, and the adapted scale can be used in Turkey. However, the suitability and applicability of the adapted scale to secondary and higher education should be determined, and its cross-cultural validity should be analyzed.