Using Values, Hope and Grit to Predict Academic Success and Retention in First Year Tertiary Study

Project Team: Aaron Jarden (The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) & Alexander Mackenzie (University of Canterbury)

Date: 2009

Funded by Ako Aotearoa Central Regional Hub through the Regional Hub Funding Scheme.

Two hundred and one contact students (University of Canterbury) and 237 distance students (the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) completed these measures online. Participants signed a waiver allowing their personal information to be viewed (indicating their obtained grades and if they completed their courses) at the end of semester two 2008.

Summary of Findings

• Older students complete less, yet score higher when they do complete. Females and distance education students complete less, yet score similar to males and contact education students when they do complete.
• There are distinctly different personal values and grit profiles between distance and contact education students that can be utilised to enhance teaching effectiveness, in particular by increasing success and retention rates. Distance students may benefit from motivational strategies that tap into self-enhancement values and promote ambition. Contact students may benefit from motivational strategies that tap into conservative values and reinforce effort.
• All students may benefit from identifying what is important (i.e., personal values) and taking steps to live in alignment with their values, and from having their interest in study consistently engaged.
• Hope does not seem to be related to retention or success in first year tertiary study

Of note, the characteristic of grit (perseverance) was a stronger predictor of both retention and success in first year tertiary study than originally thought (and to a lesser extent values, and minimally, levels of hope).

The Grit Scale in particular enables a quick and effective identification of students who may need more intervention in order to succeed (this could take many formats, and may include more phone or in-person contact, more motivational material, etc). This ability to target support may further improve students’ experience of their first year of tertiary study.

Recommendations for Good Practice

The Grit Scale should be further investigated and utilised, with more concrete norms and cut scores developed on larger and specific student populations. This 12 (or 17) item scale is quick to administer and score, and has the potential to provide much benefit to a teacher. In the absences of concrete cut scores and norms related to retention and success, this scale can be used to rank groups of students from high to low levels of grit for targeting.

References

• Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess. Harris, & Owens. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 519-542.
• Snyder, Harris, Anderson, Holleran, Irving, Sigmon, et al. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570-585.
• Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 1087-1101.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Dr Kennedy McLachlan, Dr Raymond Young, Dr Axel Laurs, Dr Luke Strongman, Ian Rowe and Ako Aotearoa for their assistance in organising and funding this research project.

There is also a poster for this project - download (pdf 1.5 MB)

Further contact - aaron.jarden@openpolytechnic.ac.nz

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