A comparative analysis of contemporary achievement goal orientation measures

As research on achievement goals has increased, so has the number of differ ent measures of goal orientations. In this article, the authors examined th ree popular measures of task and ego achievement goal orientations in terms of factorial and construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and distributional characteristics. College students completed the Ability and Task Orientation scales from the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PAL S), Task and Ego Motivational Orientation Scales, and the General Learning and Performance Goal Orientations Scales. The first two sets of scales asse ss goal orientations for schoolwork, whereas the third is more general. To assess construct validity, the scales were correlated with the Jackson Achi evement Orientation Scale, beliefs concerning the role of effort and abilit y in success, and interest/enjoyment of and boredom with schoolwork. The PA LS scales generally faired the best in terms of distributional characterist ics, factorial validity, and construct validity.