The Importance of Directly Asking Students Their Reasons for Attending Higher Education

Autor/inn/en	Kennett, Deborah J.; Reed, Maureen J.; Lam, Dianne
Titel	The Importance of Directly Asking Students Their Reasons for Attending Higher Education
Quelle	In: Issues in Educational Research, 21 (2011) 1, S.65-74 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0313-7155
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Student Educational Objectives; Attribution Theory; Etiology; Foreign Countries; Inquiry; Student Characteristics; Student Attitudes; Interest Inventories; Educational Attitudes; Performance Factors; Measures (Individuals); Academic Aspiration; College Bound Students; Canada + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ätiologie; Ausland; Schülerverhalten; Interest profile; Interessenprofil; Educational attitude; Bildungsverhalten; Erziehungseinstellung; Leistungsindikator; Messdaten; Kanada
Abstract	Few studies have directly asked undergraduate students their reasons for coming to institutions for higher learning and, instead, have been developed based on theoretical rationale. We asked undergraduate students to list all of their reasons for attending university and to indicate those most important. Overall, students reported more than five and most listed both internal and external reasons. Highly endorsed internal reasons included self-improvement, achieving life goals, whereas highly endorsed external reasons pertained to career and family. Upper-year students listed more reasons for attending and tended to list reasons pertaining to self-improvement/satisfaction and societal contributions. Many first year students attended to prove to others they could earn a degree. Although many of the items students endorsed here concurred with other popular scales' items, some of the central listed items did not, with many items on some scales not even being mentioned by our sample. The complexity of reasons our students listed may help to explain outcomes such as GPA, retention and satisfaction. (Contains 2 tables.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc. 5/202 Coode Street, Como, Western Australia 6152, Australia. e-mail: editor@iier.org.au; Web site: http://www.waier.org.au
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10