Using Cognitive Interviewing to Assess Primary Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Goal Structures

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG Poster Session 1

Abstract

This two-part study focused on young students’ perceptions of classroom goal structures. Cognitive interviews were conducted as students responded to original and modified teacher goal items from the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales –PALS (Midgley et al., 2000). Early elementary students were asked what they thought the item was asking and what examples they could give to support their answer choice. Student answers were coded and given a global cognitive validity score for each of the eight survey items. Analysis of student responses indicated low validity scores for the original items, and then moderate to high validity scores for some of the modified goal structure items. Implications and future research with young students and goal structures are presented.

Authors

• Amanda Dozier Hartigan, George Mason University

• Michelle M. Buehl, George Mason University