Testing the mastery-avoidance construct in achievement goal theory: a meta-analytic confirmatory factor analysis (MA-CFA) of two achievement goals scales

Abstract

Achievement goal theory is a popular theoretical framework that has been widely used to understand the goals students hold regarding their academic work. This theoretical model has been subject to an ongoing debate regarding the number and nature of constructs it includes. Notable in such debates has been the inclusion or exclusion of mastery-avoidance goals. The purpose of this study was to conduct meta-analytic confirmatory factor analyses (MA-CFA) on two popular achievement goal measures, the Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (AGQ-R) and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) achievement goals scales, to analyse the structure of these scales across published studies. The models were a better fit for the data without mastery-avoidance, and overall the data suggest researchers should consider excluding mastery-avoidance.

Keywords:

• Achievement goals
• meta-analytic confirmatory factor analysis
• Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised
• AGQ-R
• patterns of adaptive learning scales
• PALS

Author Note

Kamden Strunk is an Associate Professor of Educational Research in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology in the College of Education at Auburn University. Wilson Lester is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology in the College of Education at Auburn University. Forrest Lane is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education at Sam Houston State University. Payton Hoover and Jasmine Betties are doctoral students in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology in the College of Education at Auburn University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The present research was financially supported by an Early Career Research Grant from Division 15: Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association.