Analysing changes in

motivation levels post JEE

An attempt to understand changes in
motivation levels of students at IIT Delhi
Introduction

Motivation is central to student learning as it helps

determine how engaged students are in their work, how hard
they work, and how well they persevere in the face of
challenges.

Understanding the changes in motivation and its causes, we

can help the institution design interventions and policies in
order to maintain high motivation levels in the institution.
Hypothesis

We expected to see an overall decline in the motivation

levels pertaining to academic performance.

We also expected this decline to be more in students who had

a not so good JEE rank, that is, students of departments
other than Computer Science, Electrical, Mathematics and
Computing, Mechanical and Electrical and Power departments.
Method and Assumptions

We conducted a survey that had questions to assess the

motivation levels of the students based on the theories that
we discussed in class.

We have assumed that JEE rank defines the motivation levels

of a student before entrance (ignoring the ability aspect of
students) and the current CGPA is enough to describe the
motivation levels after it. This means that JEE rank and CGPA
are good enough cumulatives to assess a person’s overall
motivation before and after JEE respectively.
Results

We received around 100 responses and we consider it a good

enough sample to at least understand the overall changes in
motivation clearly and a little bit about the reasons for it.

We found that 68% students got a decrease in overall

motivation level and 28% got an increase or had same levels
of motivation.
Further Analysis

We asked questions whose answers were used to analyse the

reason for an increase or decrease in motivation.

These questions targeted motivation levels based on various

theories that we studied, for example:

Do you think a good CG is important for your success in

future ? (Reinforcement theory)

Do you think the grading is just and fair for all the
students in IIT ?(Equity theory)
Results In Line With Equity Theory
Analysis In Line With Equity Theory
Equity theory is based on the idea that individuals are
motivated by fairness. Here it observed that 72.8% students
feel that sometimes the checking of answer scripts is not
fair. After identifying the inequities in the input and
output ratios of themselves and their fellow students,
students get demotivated.
Results In Line With Reinforcement Theory
Results In Line With Reinforcement Theory
Analysis Of Results

Majority of students analyze the reward before taking the

action associated with it, implying behaviour is a function
of the consequences

Around 45% of students tend to opt for courses which are

easy to score, implying results or rewards influence the
behaviour
Analysis on the basis of Reinforcement Theory

• Case: Results Of Actions Are Insufficient

o Disinterested in the curriculum of the college.
o Rewards might not be as attractive or compelling as compared to
that before enrolling into college.
• Case: Results Are Not In Line Of Actions
o Change of Career Preferences
o Past Experiences

All the above mentioned factors might lead to decrease in overall motivation
Self Efficacy and Self Determination Theory - Qs Asked

Qs: Do you believe you have what it takes to get a CG above

9? (low self efficacy) 0-------5 (high self efficacy)

Qs: What motivates you to pick a particular course for the

next semester? (More than one can be selected)

Interest in the subject, Usability of the subject, Easy to

score good grades in that subject, To complete the degree
requirements
Self Efficacy Theory - Analysis
Only 18% students believe that they
aren’t capable enough to get a CG
above 9.

Rest 23% lie in between and an

astounding 59% believe that they
are capable.

This means that most students have

self efficacy and thus this is not
the reason for the overall decrease
in motivation.
Self Determination Theory analysis
We observe that 61% people
follow interests and 40-
50% people are influenced
by extrinsic factors. That
is a good number of people
are intrinsically
motivated to perform
better so this is not a
strong reason for decrease
in motivation in most
cases.
Goal Setting Theory

Only 59% students believe that they find exams difficult at

IIT, rest 41% believe that exams are not difficult.

This means that most of the students find the goal difficult
to achieve. So it’s not a good reason for decrease in
motivation.

But many students do not find exams difficult, it could be a

good reason for decrease in motivation for some people
Goal Setting Theory analysis
Results & Analysis in line with Expectancy Theory
Expectancy is the faith that
better performance will lead
to desired outcomes. Here it
is observed that 32.6%
students think that what they
study is not worth and it
will not help them fetch
their dream job & hence this
leads to decrease in
motivation levels.
It is also observed that Expectancy is influenced by factors
such as availability of right resources(12% think that right
resources are not available to study and 42.4% think that
Professors do not teach the way they expect from them).