EVALUATION, VALIDATION AND MODIFICATION OF SCIENCE MOTIVATION QUESTIONNAIRE FOR UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Motivation to learn a school subject is crucial for achieving knowledge and skills and, consequently, for good academic performance in the subject. There are several approved questionnaires dedicated to assessing motivation for science and biology but none for upper secondary school Czech students. Therefore, existing Science Motivation Questionnaire was evaluated, validated and modified in order to create a Czech version of a Biology motivation questionnaire (BMQ). The original version of the questionnaire had 30 questions, arranged in the following subscales: Internal Motivation, External Motivation, Personal Relevance, Responsibility, Self-efficacy and Anxiety. Validation was based on a survey of 517 upper secondary school Czech students. Analysis of the questionnaires revealed that, although the questionnaire could be used as a whole with satisfactory Cronbach alpha values, the underlying constructs in the Czech version were different from the six ones originally suggested. Based on Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling, 14 questions retained in three constructs: a) Self–efficacy, b) Responsibility and c) Motivation as a combination of Internal Motivation, External Motivation and Personal Relevance. This shorter version of the BMQ showed satisfactory Goodness of Fit Indices in contrast to the original 30-item version. Keywords: biology motivation questionnaire, questionnaire modification, EFA, secondary school students.