Exploring the dynamics of situated expectancy-value theory: A panel network analysis

Abstract

Students’ competence beliefs and task values are proximal psychological predictors of their achievement-related choices and academic achievement. Situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT) suggests that these beliefs are situationally sensitive and interact over short periods of time. In the present study, we explored the dynamic nature of students’ situation-specific expectancy-value beliefs in five sections of an introductory calculus course across one semester (11 weeks, N = 429). Using psychometric network analysis, we examined how facets of the SEVT framework are related between persons (i.e., between-person network), within situations (i.e., within-person contemporaneous network), and from one time point to the next across one semester (i.e., within-person temporal network). Results suggested that differences existed among motivational constructs across the three networks in that costs and positively-valenced facets of motivation (i.e., competence and values) were relatively independent of each other within a given situation, but showed some significant cross-lagged effects over time. Our results suggest that interventions to support students in STEM should target positively and negatively valenced constructs (i.e., values and costs).

Publication
Learning and Individual Differences, 100