An international comparison study of pharmacy students' achievement goals and their relationship to assessment type and scores.

OBJECTIVE

To identify pharmacy students' preferred achievement goals in a multi-national undergraduate population, to investigate achievement goal preferences across comparable degree programs, and to identify relationships between achievement goals, academic performance, and assessment type.

METHODS

The Achievement Goal Questionnaire was administered to second year students in 4 universities in Australia, New Zealand, England, and Wales. Academic performance was measured using total scores, multiple-choice questions, and written answers (short essay).

RESULTS

Four hundred eighty-six second year students participated. Students showed an overall preference for the mastery-approach goal orientation across all sites. The predicted relationships between goal orientation and multiple-choice questions, and written answers scores, were significant.

CONCLUSION

This study is the first of its kind to examine pharmacy students' achievement goals at a multi-national level and to differentiate between assessment type and measures of achievement motivation. Students adopting a mastery-approach goal are more likely to gain high scores in assessments that measure understanding and depth of knowledge.