Title: THE EFFECT OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION: THIRD YEAR UNDERGRADUATES PURSuING SPORt SCIENCE/NUTRITION DEGREE
2. BRIEF REVIEW OF LITERATURE & RATIONALE (Two Pages)
Academic achievement is vital to the development of people in society (Hasan and Sarkar, 2018, p. 249 and Pawar, 2017). The modern world is largely dependent on the nature and quality of education levels possessed by an individual – this immensely influences the success or failure (Mandal, 2017, p. 48). Students from the best universities are likely to get better and well-paying jobs as opposed to their counterparts from middle or low ranked institutions of learning. Therefore, it is a dream of every person to get the best education available in the market. While the education offered may be somewhat the same, the levels of motivation vary from one person to another. In this regard, the topic of achievement motivation is critical in the industry as it offers an understanding of some of the elements influencing student success (Obiero, 2018, p. 24). Kumari and Chamundeswari (2015, p. 7) say that motivation is a force that energizes, directs, and sustains a person’s behavior towards a set goal or objective.
Humans are social beings whose behaviors and actions directly influence their performance. Motivation denotes one of the primary processes ingrained in the lives of people and it directly influences the thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions of people – boosting the performance of human beings in the long run (Olaoye and Olaoye, 2018, p. 210). Therefore, a lack of motivation is costly to institutions and individuals as it is a core factor in catalyzing the performance of people in a workplace or educational setting (Taheri, Nasiri, Moaddab, Nayebi and Asadi Louyeh, 2016, p. 136). In this regard, Anitha and Jebaseelan (2018, p. 25) state that achievement motivation is a pivotal element for success in society. Moreover, its success cannot be limited to a single sphere but transcends all aspect of human life. In their study, Anitha and Jebaseelan sought to establish the impact of achievement motivation among adolescents. They found that achievement motivation directly influenced the academic performance of the study (Anitha and Jebaseelan, 2018, p. 31).
The role of family and social factors in achievement motivation are explored by Prajina (2015) who investigates achievement motivation among tribal children in Kannur District Kerala. According to the researcher children from tribal communities perform poorly in education owing to poor family support and lack of positive influence from the community, the social setting among the people from this region is not inclined towards education. Therefore, tribal children are not able to transition their learning experiences to the community and back to class to succeed in the long run (Prajina, 2015, p. 17). Further, the authors define achievement motivation as the desire to attain a specific target. They go on to assert that learning is impacted by both cognitive and affective factors.
3. RESEARCH QUESTION / AIM[S] AND HYPOTHESES
The aim of this study is to understand the impact of the achievement motivation theory applied to third year undergraduate students pursuing sport science/nutrition degrees, and how can achievement motivation affect their academic targets.
• What is the impact of achievement-motivation on the performance of third year undergraduate students ?
• What factors are influencing the performance of third year undergraduate students?
• How can third year undergraduate students leverage on achievement motivation to improve their success in academics?
4. METHODOLOGY
This study involves undergraduate students at the university. The choice of the participants is based on the need to explore how the performance of undergraduate students is influenced by achievement motivation. While there are numerous studies on achievement motivation among secondary and other lower grade students, very few studies focus on undergraduate students. The participants are chosen using a judgmental sampling technique (Taherdoost, 2016). The sampling approach allows the selection of the most qualified participants based on the set criteria. In this case, the criterion undergraduate students pursuing sport science and nutrition degrees. The choice of selecting undergraduates from specific faculties is mainly due to the fact that it will offer a distinct and coherent range of qualitative data reflecting similar Achievement Motivation scenarios. Selecting only undergraduates from a precise faculty could result in obtaining a rescricted range of data. The data will be collected throughout a 3-4 month period. In addition, the length of time related to data collection might aswell dipend on the availability of volonteers and participants.
4.1 Study Design and Sampling Strategy
The fundamental design of this research will be qualitative, including mobile recorded interviews running for approximately 5-10minutes, in order to collect as much data, also taking in account the relevancy of the data and the bearing of the arguments discussed during the interviews. The aim is to recruit participants ranging from a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 8. A wider range of participants will also allow a wider variety of data collection.
4.2 Participants
The choice of participants will be mainly influenced by the availability of third year undergraduates who are pursing sport science and nutrition degrees. For this reason, the participants recruited for this specific research will be chosen based on their faculty status. The participants willing to volonteer will be also provided with informed consent sheets and information sheets.
4.3 Exclusion Criteria
This research adopts a qualitative method, for this reason there should not be any exclusion criteria since it mainly focusses on inteviewes and does not require the engagement into any physical activity. Some individuals may be cognitively deficient and their information could be potentially biased, for this reason any acceptance criteria will be insured in advance. Only third year students attending sport science and nutrition faculties will be allowed to take part in this research project. Furthermore all participants will be over 18 years old.
4.4 Procedures
The data will be collected through mobile device, this will take place in private environments to prevent any external interference while recording and interviewing the participants.
4.5 Data Analysis
According to Maguire and Delahunt (2017, p. 3352) depict that a thematic analysis entails the process of identifying patterns or themes within qualitative data. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, a thematic analysis will be used. The significance of this approach is that it is not limited to a particular theoretical perspective. Hence, it is a dynamic model for analyzing the data. In addition, it is suitable for the analysis of both primary and secondary data as provided in this study. The first step in implementing the thematic analysis technique is the familiarization of the data. The data collected is assembled and cleaned to ensure that it makes sense. Second, based on the data patterns are searched across the data elements. Third, the emerging themes from the data are reviewed. Finally, a report is generated in the findings. The systematic approach of analyzing the data is integral in ensuring that reliable and efficient conclusions are made at the end of the study.
4.6 Limitations
The study only involves third year students in the field of Sports Science and nutrition hence cannot be generalized. Also, only a qualitative research method is implemented exposing the study to the method’s shortcomings delimited to 5. Moreover, it focusses on specific personal, family, and school factors expected to influence achievement motivation. The impact of age is not investigated, but it is stated as informed by the review of existing pieces of literature on the relationship between achievement motivation and performance of learners. All data collected through mobile device will be immidietalely stored in safety software boxes to prevent any accidental or involontary data loss.
6. REFERENCES
Anitha, P. and Jebaseelan, A. (2018). Study on achievement motivation among adolescent students in Colleges of Trichirappalli, Dt. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), pp.25-31.
Hasan, M. and Sarkar, R. (2018). Achievement motivation and academic achievement of the secondary level students in Uttar Dinajpur District. Research Review International Journal of Multidisciplinary, 3(10), pp.249-252.
Kumari, V. and Chamundeswari, S. (2015). Achievement motivation, study habits and academic achievement of students at the secondary level. International Journal of Emerging Research in Management and Technology, 4(10), pp.7-13.
Maguire, M. and Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. International Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, [online] 8(3), pp.3351-33514. Available at: http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/335 [Accessed 16 Aug. 2019].
Mandal, M. (2017). Emotional intelligence and academic achievements of upper primary rural students in relation to their gender, family type, and economic class. IOSR Journal of Research and Method in Education (IOSRJRME), 07(01), pp.48-53.
Obiero, J. (2018). The relationship between achievement motivation and mathematic performance amongst female learners and in selected urban girls’ secondary schools in Kenya. Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies, 4(1), pp.23-29.
Olaoye, O. and Olaoye, D. (2018). Assessment of self-esteem, locus of control and achievement motivation of female students in Kwara State Colleges of education, Nigeria. Educational Process: International Journal, 7(3), pp.209-221.
Prajina, P. (2015). A Study on the academic achievement motivation among the tribal children with special reference to Kannur District Kerala. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), [online] pp.15-72. Available at: http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Conf.17004/Volume…/4.%2015-17.pdf
Taherdoost, H., 2016. Sampling methods in research methodology; How to choose a sampling technique for research.
Taheri, M., Nasiri, E., Moaddab, F., Nayebi, N. and Asadi Louyeh, A. (2016). Strategies to improve students’ educational achievement motivation at Guilan University Medical Sciences. Research and Development in Medical Education, 4(2), pp.133-139.