Development and Validation of an Inventory that Measures Motivated Behavior in Chemistry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop an inventory that measures students’ motivation toward chemistry (MBIC). In total, 127 students from Technological University of the Philippines were asked to respond to the inventory. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded four factors namely, choice behavior, persistent behavior, study approaches and strategies and resilient behavior. The factor loadings of the items ranged from 0.426 to 0.718, 0.513 to 0.820, 0.457 to 0.718, and 0.441 to 0.621, respectively. The Cronbach alpha for the entire inventory was 0.90; for each scale, alpha ranged from 0.74 to 0.84. High motivators and low motivators showed a significant difference (p <0.01) on their MBIC scores. Correlations between the students’ motivation in chemistry measured using MBIC and students’ achievement in chemistry, cheating behavior and students’ motivation in English are moderate to weak but they are all statistically significant. Findings of the study confirmed the validity and reliability of the MBIC questionnaire. Implications for using the MBIC in research and in class are discussed in the paper.

Keywords: Principal component analysis, varimax rotation, cronbach’s alpha, Chemistry achievement, English Motivation, Cheating Behavior, Motivated Behavior Inventory