“I just don’t find it interesting”: academic major and timing of enrollment predict motivation in an introductory biology course

Figures & data

Table 1. Student demographic information.

	First-Year Students(n = 387)	Upper-Level Students(n = 259)
Major
Biology	58%	16%
Neuroscience	10%	3%
Other	32%	80%
Gender
Female	78%	68%
Male	22%	32%
Race/Ethnicity
White	69%	77%
Black/African American	5%	7%
Hispanic/Latino	7%	6%
Asian	10%	2%
Other or unknown	9%	7%
Age
Less than or equal to 25 years	100%	94%
Over 25 years	0%	6%
First-Generation Status
Continuing-Generation	74%	69%
First-Generation	26%	31%

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. Competence-Related Beliefs
2. Attainment Value	.48**
3. Intrinsic Value	.48**	.68**
4. Utility Value	.35**	.69**	.66**
5. Psychological Cost	−.15**	.18**	.01	.10*
6. Opportunity Cost	−.41**	−.12**	−.27***	−.13**	.43**
7. Effort Cost	−.45**	−.29**	−.40**	−.33**	.33**	.69***
8. Course Grade	.39**	.17**	.18**	.18**	−.08	−.25**	−.30**
9. Biology/Neuroscience Major	.17**	.31**	.28**	.34**	.05	−.09*	−.19**	.09*
10. First-Year Student	.19**	.27**	.25**	.32**	.07	−.09*	−.18**	.29**	.47**
n	646	646	646	646	646	645	646	615
Mean	4.41	4.62	4.63	4.87	3.51	2.73	2.45	2.78
Standard Deviation	0.64	0.82	0.92	0.99	1.20	1.19	0.99	1.16
Cronbach’s α	0.81	0.71	0.91	0.91	0.75	0.91	0.81

*p < .05, **p < .01.

Figure 1. Variation in motivation constructs by academic major and timing of enrollment. Students’ ratings on seven motivation constructs were compared by Kruskal-Wallis tests with post-hoc Dunn’s multiple comparisons tests for first-year and upper-level students separated by academic major (bio major = students with a biology/neuroscience major; other majors = students with other STEM majors). The center line is the median value (50th percentile), and the 25th to 75th percentiles of the dataset are represented by the box. The whiskers denote the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, and values beyond these upper and lower bounds are marked with dots. The mean value is indicated by the ‘+’.

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

Figure 2. Final course grades by major and timing of enrollment. (a) a box and whisker plot of final course grades was plotted on a 5-point scale (4 = A, 3 = B, 2 = C, 1 = D, 0 = E) for first-year and upper-level students (bio major = students with a biology/neuroscience major; other majors = students with other STEM majors). The centre line is the median value (50th percentile), and the 25th to 75th percentiles of the dataset are represented by the box. The whiskers denote the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, and values beyond these upper and lower bounds are marked with dots. The mean value is indicated by the ‘+’. Kruskal-Wallis tests with post-hoc Dunn’s multiple comparisons tests were used to compare means. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 (b) the proportion of students with each grade type (W = withdrawal; E = failing grade) was graphed by first-year and upper-level status and academic major.

Figure 3. Path model illustrating significant relationships among variables. Reported coefficients are standardised. Correlations between motivation variables were included in the path model but are excluded from the figure for simplicity. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table 3. Results of the path model.

	bstandardized	p	95% Bootstrap CI
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Competence-Related Beliefs	0.21	.018	[0.03, 0.38]
Biology/Neuroscience Major→ Attainment Value	0.47	<.001	[0.31, 0.62]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Intrinsic Value	0.43	<.001	[0.27, 0.59]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Utility Value	0.48	<.001	[0.33, 0.63]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Psychological Cost	0.01	.923	[−0.16, 0.18]
Biology/Neuroscience Major→ Opportunity Cost	−0.15	.098	[−0.32, 0.03]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Effort Cost	−0.32	<.001	[−0.48, −0.15]
First-Year Status → Competence-Related Beliefs	0.27	.002	[0.10, 0.44]
First-Year Status → Attainment Value	0.32	<.001	[0.16, 0.49]
First-Year Status → Intrinsic Value	0.30	<.001	[0.13, 0.47]
First-Year Status → Utility Value	0.42	<.001	[0.26, 0.58]
First-Year Status → Psychological Cost	0.12	.188	[−0.06, 0.30]
First-Year Status → Opportunity Cost	−0.12	.194	[−0.29, 0.06]
First-Year Status → Effort Cost	−0.21	.017	[−0.39, −0.03]
First-Year Status → Grade	0.48	<.001	[0.33, 0.64]
Competence-Related Beliefs → Grade	0.34	<.001	[0.25, 0.43]
Attainment Value → Grade	−0.07	.192	[−0.19, 0.04]
Intrinsic Value → Grade	−0.04	.429	[−0.14, 0.06]
Utility Value → Grade	0.02	.680	[−0.09, 0.13]
Psychological Cost → Grade	0.03	.496	[−0.06, 0.11]
Opportunity Cost → Grade	−0.03	.614	[−0.14, 0.08]
Effort Cost → Grade	−0.14	.007	[−0.25, −0.04]
Indirect Path	bstandardized	p	95% Bootstrap CI
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Competence-Related Beliefs → Grade	0.07	.024	[0.01, 0.14]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Attainment Value → Grade	−0.03	.204	[−0.10, 0.02]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Intrinsic Value → Grade	−0.02	.435	[−0.07, 0.03]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Utility Value → Grade	0.01	.681	[−0.04, 0.07]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Psychological Cost → Grade	<0.001	.924	[−0.01, 0.01]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Opportunity Cost → Grade	0.004	.630	[−0.02, 0.03]
Biology/Neuroscience Major → Effort Cost → Grade	0.05	.032	[0.01, 0.09]
First-Year Status → Competence-Related Beliefs → Grade	0.09	.005	[0.03, 0.16]
First-Year Status → Attainment Value → Grade	−0.02	.217	[−0.07, 0.01]
First-Year Status → Intrinsic Value → Grade	−0.01	.441	[−0.05, 0.02]
First-Year Status → Utility Value → Grade	0.01	.681	[−0.04, 0.06]
First-Year Status → Psychological Cost → Grade	0.003	.545	[−0.01, 0.02]
First-Year Status → Opportunity Cost → Grade	0.003	.639	[−0.01, 0.02]
First-Year Status → Effort Cost → Grade	0.03	.074	[0.00, 0.07]