Making Learning Real: Design Principles and Evidence for Applied Learning in Schools
Category: Student Learning
Instrument Overview
Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths
Strong reliability (scores are highly consistent within each motivation component). Validated with U.S. college science majors and non-science majors; scores were related to college science GPA, especially self-efficacy.
Cautions
Not designed for elementary or secondary students. Not validated for individual diagnosis or high-stakes prediction.
The Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ-II) is a 25-item self-report questionnaire that measures students’ motivation to learn science in college courses. It includes five subscales: intrinsic motivation, self-determination, self-efficacy, career motivation, and grade motivation. The questionnaire uses a five-point response scale from “Never” to “Always” and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
The SMQ-II can be used in education research to examine students’ motivation for learning science and how different aspects of motivation relate to science achievement. It was developed as a revision of the original Science Motivation Questionnaire and was designed specifically for college science courses. The revised version was validated with science majors and nonscience majors and has been studied in relation to students’ college science GPA.
Organization
Topic
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
Post secondary
Languages
English
Respondent
Student
Administration Information
Length
25 items
Access and Use
Price
Free
Open Access
Yes
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Reliability
Cronbach's alpha:
Career motivation (0.92)
Intrinsic motivation (0.89)
Self-determination (0.88)
Self-efficacy (0.83), and grade motivation (0.81).
Item Type
Likert
