Study of motivation in portuguese students

Abstract

In adolescence, motivation is a predictive factor in academic success. Motivated students have higher levels of satisfaction in school, mobilizing interests and skills in various domains (Galinha, 2006). This study aimed to assess the existence of improvements in motivational dynamics in Portuguese adolescents by investigating if students who participated in the P-DMAR Programme displayed higher motivation levels relative to the control group in the domains present in the QME questionnaire. The School Motivation Questionnaire - QME (Cordeiro, 2010) was administered to two groups (experimental vs control) at two different phases, before and after participation in the P-DMAR. A sample of 86 students (n = 43 experimental group, n = 43 control group) were involved in the study. The statistical methodology consisted of a quantitative analysis of the QME using hypothesis tests for independent and paired samples. An α = 5% was set. The results showed that males were predominant (51.2%) with 29.1% of the respondents repeating. There was a statistically significant improvement in the six dimensions evaluated in the QME in the experimental group as opposed to the control group (p values <0.01). It was verified that the P-DMAR is a valuable programme with statistical significance (p <0.01) because the students participating in it saw their motivational capacities enhanced in the following six domains measured in the QME: strategies, extrinsic objectives of the teacher, extrinsic objectives of the student with external regulation, intrinsic objectives of the teacher, extrinsic objectives of the student with internal regulation and intrinsic objectives of the student.