Student Motivation and Course Evaluations Across 30 College Courses

Comprising survey responses from 2,949 undergraduate students across 30 courses at a large public university, collected in 2022. It examines relationships between students' motivational perceptions, course ease, and their evaluations of teaching using the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory.

Use Cases

• Analyze the association between the 'motivational climate' components (e.g., empowerment, usefulness, situational interest) and student evaluations of teaching (SETs).
• Investigate whether 'course ease' ratings correlate with lower SET scores when controlling for motivational climate and class demographics.
• Apply hierarchical linear modeling to examine variance in SETs explained by student-level versus class-level 'motivational climate' perceptions.
• Study the relationships between specific 'course perceptions' like 'caring' and 'success expectancies' and overall instructor and course ratings.

Strengths

• Data from 2,949 student participants provides a substantial sample for analysis.
• Structured around the validated MUSIC® Model of Academic Motivation Inventory and specific scales for instructor rating, course rating, and ease of course.
• Focus on 30 distinct college courses allows for multi-level (student and class) analysis.

Limitations

• The sample is from a single large public university, limiting geographic and institutional generalizability.
• Specific column names, data formats, and the presence of null values are not detailed in the provided input.
• The dataset's temporal coverage is limited to a single collection period (2022).

Provenance

Source

Jones, Brett; ICPSR Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Web-based survey administered to undergraduate students.

Time Range

2022

Freshness

2022

Geography

A large public university (specific location not stated).