Readers are able to identify the purpose of the study immediately and with little effort, as the purpose of the study is stated in the opening sentence of the abstract. In addition to being stated in the abstract the purpose is also stated in the article’s introduction as well as in the discussion piece. The purpose is clearly stated and a detailed explanation of what the study entails is provided in the article. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student motivation and physical activity by exploring the role of learning climates, student engagement, attitude, and self-determination in physical education (p. 4).
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The author gives an in depth …show more content…
How do measures of student attitude, self-determination, and perception of the climate relate to student levels of activity as measured by pedometer counts? (p. 3).
c. How do students’ motivation and activity levels vary by grade level and gender? (p. 3).
Describe instrumentation
This section of the study proves to be an exhaustive breakdown of instrumentation tools used during the study. The section gives a detailed overview of each tool used and included sample questions and a description of rating scales. Reliability and validity are also discussed along with advantages and disadvantages of the instrumentation tools. Instrumentation tools used during the study include:
-The Learning and Performance Orientations in Physical Education Classes Questionnaire (LAPOPECQ) was the instrumentation tool for motivational climate. The questionnaire contained 27 items that examined the perceptions of physical education structures and goals. Participants complete the 5-point (Likert scale) questionnaire with their physical education class in mind (p. 5).
-An instrumentation tool developed by Subramaniam and Silverman measured student’s attitude toward the physical education class and contained 20 items on a 5 point Likert scale (p. …show more content…
Precautions taken are listed by each questionnaire, and include: the use of confirmatory factor analysis with the Learning and Performance Orientations in Physical Education Classes Questionnaire (p. 5). Content validity for the attitude questionnaire was .94 and attitude usefulness was .99 (p. 5). The SIMS Motivation questionnaire exhibits internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha levels (p. 6)
Data analysis
Data analysis and the results are listed separately in the study. The data analysis is brief, but includes detailed information about how the data was analyzed. All data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (p. 7). The results include means, standard deviations, and Cronbach’s alphas for the variables in the study and can be found in table 1 of the study. The section included an extensive breakdown of results. Each variable is discussed and compared with other variables. Table 1 is easy to follow and complements the study.