STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTATION AT UNIVERSITY STAGE: A STUDY OF

PUNJABI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Ravinder Kaur

Kulwinder Singh

Rajinder Kaur

INTRODUCTION

Achievement orientation is defined as an internalized tendency to strive for standard of excellence. It attempts to account for the determinants of the direction, magnitude and persistence of behaviour.As a result of independent thinking, skill development and personality development in the academic atmosphere of an institution of higher learning, it is expected that students desire to excel i.e. achievement orientation will be enhanced.

OBJECTIVES

1. To study achievement orientation among

university students, pursuing different types

of academic courses;

2. To study gender difference in achievement

orientation of university students, pursuing

different types of courses;

3. To study achievement orientation of university students in relation to locality and types of courses of study.

HYPOTHESES

1. There will be significant differences in achievement orientation of students pursuing different types of academic courses;

2. There will be significant gender differences in achievement orientation of university students, pursuing different types of academic courses;

3. There will be significant differences in achievement orientation of rural and urban university students, pursuing different types of academic courses.

DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Only students of Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab pursuing different types of post-graduate courses of study were taken into consideration. The variable of achievement orientation was analysed only in terms of gender, location and types of courses of study with the help of t-test and no factorial design was used.

METHOD

The universe of the study was post graduate students of Punjabi University, Patiala, pursuing their studies in different courses divided into four strata on the basis of nature of courses i.e.: i) social sciences, ii) sciences, iii) professional, and iv) languages. A sample of 200 post-graduate students (101 females and 99 males) was collected for the present study.

Tools

Achievement orientation scale of Kahl 1965 was used to measure achievement motivation of university students. It consisted of 20 items to be responded on a five point scale rating from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1) to provide 4 dimensional scores and total across viz. i) trust consisting of 6 items; ii) activism consisting of 7 items; iii) occupational primacy consisting of 4 items; and iv) integration with family consisting of 3 items.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Trust

The mean trust scores for social sciences, sciences, professional and language groups were 15.37, 15.34, 15.10 and 15.90 respectively. It was observed from mean scores (on a scale of 6-30) that the overall trust scores were of moderate range among university students. The t-value, testing the significance of mean differences between social sciences and science was 0.04, whereas it was 0.33 as compared with professional group and 0.68 as compared with language group. Further, t-value testing the significance of mean difference of science group, as compared to professional and language groups were 0.30 and 0.74 respectively, whereas it was 0.94 in case of professional and language groups. Since none of the t-values was significant at .05 level, it may be concluded that the university students, pursuing different courses of study have nearly equal mean performance on trust dimension of achievement orientation.

Activism

The mean activism scores of social sciences, sciences, professional and language groups of students were 21.36, 24.02, 22.10 and 21.60 respectively. Science students had the highest mean score i.e. 24.02 and language group had the lowest mean score i.e. 21.60 on activism and were above average on a scale of 7-35. They differed significantly from their social sciences counterparts as the t-value comparing these two groups was 3.45, significant at .01 level. The t-value, testing significance of mean difference between science and professional groups of students on activism was 2.06, significant at .05 level. Also the t-value, testing significance of mean difference on between science and language groups of students on activism was 4.03, significant at .01 level. However, the professional, social sciences and language groups of students did not differ significantly amongst each other, as none of the t-values comparing these groups was significant even at .05 level. Hence, science group of students has significantly higher mean activism score than social sciences, professional and language groups of students.

Occupational Primacy

The mean of occupational primacy scores of social sciences, sciences, professional and language groups of students were 12.25, 14.36, 13.94 and 14.00 respectively. Science students had the highest mean score i.e. 14.36 and social sciences group had the lowest mean score i.e. 12.25 on occupational primacy and were moderate on a scale of 4-20. The science students differed significantly from their social sciences counterparts as the t-value comparing these two groups was 3.29, significant at .01 level. The t-value, testing significance of mean different between social-science and professional groups of students on occupational primacy was 2.64, significant at .01 level. Also the t-value, testing significance of mean difference on between social sciences and language groups of students on occupational primacy was 2.65, was significant at .01 level. However, the science, professional and language group of students did not differ significantly amongst each other as none of the t-values comparing these groups was significant even at .05 level. Hence, social science groups of students have significantly lowest mean occupational primary score than science, professional and language groups of students.

Integration with Relatives

The mean scores on integration with relatives for social sciences, sciences, professional and language groups were 10.10, 11.02, 10.30 and 10.10 respectively. These scores were of below average range among university students. The t-values testing the significance of mean difference between social sciences and sciences was 1.70, whereas it was 0.31 as compared with professional group. Further, t-values, testing the significance of mean difference of science group, as compared to professional and language groups were 1.28 and 1.61 respectively, whereas it was 0.33 in case of professional and language groups. Since none of the t-values was significant at .05 level, the university students, pursuing different courses of study have nearly equal mean performance on integration with relatives dimension of achievement orientation.

Total Achievement Orientation

The mean of total scores of social sciences, sciences, professional and language groups of students were 61.08, 65.50, 62.00 and 61.37 respectively. Science students had the highest mean score i.e. 65.50 and social science group had the lowest mean score i.e. 61.08 on activism and were moderate on a scale of 20-100. Science students differed significantly from their social science counterparts as the t-value comparing these two groups was 3.17, significant at .01 level. The t-value, testing means differences between science and professional groups of students on total was 2.16, significant .05 level. Also t-value, testing significance of mean difference of between science and language groups of students on total was 2.90, significant at .01 level. However, the professional, social sciences and language groups of students did not differ significantly amongst each other, as none of the t-values comparing these groups was significant even at .05 level. Hence, science groups of students has significantly higher mean achievement orientation score than social sciences, professional and language groups of students. On the basis of above results showing ‘social science’ faculty low on occupational primacy and science faculty being better than other faculties in activism and total achievement orientation, the hypothesis, “There will be significant difference in achievement orientation of students, pursuing different types of academic courses” is partially accepted.

CONCLUSION

The university students do not differ in their ‘trust’ and integration with relatives’ scores of achievement orientation across different facilities of study. Science students have significantly higher levels of ‘activism’ scores than their social science, language and professional courses counterparts. Social science students have lowest score on “occupational primacy” and are significantly lower in their occupational primacy as compared to social science, professional and language faculty counterparts. As a whole, science students are compared to their social science, professional and language counterparts, have significantly higher level of achievement orientation.