Approach To Studying: Contributions Of Goal Orientation And Motivation For Attending University

The relationship between studying approach and two motivational constructs achievement goal orientation and motivation for attending university was examined. In a sample of 333 undergraduate psychology students, results indicate that mastery goals positively correlated with a deep approach to studying and that performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals predicted a surface approach to studying. Also, students with humanitarian or personal development motivations utilized a deep approach to studying, whereas students with career/materialistic or default motivations utilized a surface approach. Results showed that around 5-9% of additional variance in deep and strategic studying approaches can be explained by student motivation for attending university, over variance explained by goal orientation. For surface approach, 23% of the additional variance can be explained by student motivation for attending university. While statistically significant, the improvement in variance explained by university attendance motivation above and beyond goal orientation is practically insignificant. Therefore, most of the variance in study approach can be explained by variables other than goal orientation and student motivation for attending university.