A citizen science approach to measuring students’ achievement goals

Abstract

The concept of citizen science in scientific research brings researchers and laypersons together to work on research projects. Using an achievement goal theory framework, the present study employs a citizen science approach in which researchers and students collaboratively developed items assessing students’ achievement goals (mastery-approach, normative and appearance performance-approach, normative and appearance performance-avoidance goals). The newly developed scales were tested in two large studies carried out in Austria and the United Kingdom. All scales exhibited good psychometric properties (validity, reliability). Measurement invariance across the investigated subjects (mathematics and German in Austria and mathematics and English in the United Kingdom) and the two countries was established. Moreover, we investigated relations to implicit theories, self-efficacy, reference norms, and adaptive reactions to errors.