Factor Analyses of the Instructional Motivation Needs of Adult Learners

To learn more about the motivational factors of adult learners, data were collected regarding the instructional motivation perceptions of adults in a variety of learning environments. Subjects in the first phase of the study were a mixture of 183 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in credit and noncredit education courses of 4 medium-sized state universities. Subjects in the second phase were 147 students enrolled in community adult education classes in a suburb of a large midwestern city. Phase 1 subjects were administered the Course Interest Survey Revised (CISR) and the Course Effort Survey Revised (CESR); phase 2 students were administered the CISR only. Data analyses included means and standard deviations for each test item. Additional analyses included orthogonal transformation solution-varimax factor analysis. Results showed some support for Keller's ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) Model for Design of Motivating Instruction. Adults in university courses and workshops were found to have much different instructional needs than adults in community workshop classes. The responses of the subjects in community classes provided less support for Keller's work. (Contains 17 references.) (KRN)