Pilot study for the development and psychometric analysis of a scale on motivation toward the psychology career
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35319/ajayu.241369Keywords:
Academic motivation, psychometrics, university students, psychology, instrument validationAbstract
Academic motivation is a key construct for understanding vocational choice, persistence, and academic engagement among university students, particularly in careers with a strong vocational orientation such as Psychology. However, in the Peruvian context, there is a lack of psychometrically sound instruments specifically designed to assess motivation toward the Psychology career. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and preliminarily analyze the psychometric properties of the Motivation toward the Psychology Career Scale in a pilot sample of university students. This research followed an instrumental design with a quantitative approach and a psychometric pilot study framework. Initially, a pool of 30 positively worded items was developed and submitted to content validation by three expert psychologists, who assessed item clarity, relevance, and theoretical coherence. Based on their feedback, the final version of the scale comprised 25 items theoretically organized into four dimensions: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, academic engagement, and professional projection. The instrument was administered in person and in a group format to 53 Psychology students from a private university in Lima, Peru, using a non-probabilistic convenience sampling strategy. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 27. Results showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .947) and adequate sampling adequacy for factor analysis (KMO = .829; significant Bartlett’s test). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a predominantly unidimensional structure at this pilot stage. Overall, the findings provide preliminary evidence of the scale’s reliability and construct validity, supporting its initial feasibility for use in future studies with larger samples and its potential contribution to motivation assessment in Psychology students.
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