AN EXPECTANCY VALUE THEORY PREDICTS ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE STATISTICS THROUGH ACADEMIC DELAY OF GRATIFICATION

Abstract

We tested a model that integrates academic delay of gratification with Expectancy Value Theory to predict achievement in an undergraduate psychology and nursing statistics class at a metropolitan university in the southeastern United States. We analyzed measurements (n = 163: 80.4% female) of past performance, academic delay of gratification, effort, value, affect, and cognitive competence with students’ final exam score. The path model analyzed explained 14.9% of the variance in scores. Past performance inmathematics and student effort had direct effects on grades and all expectancy value theory constructs, as well as academic delay of gratification, were indirectly related to grades. We present details of our analysis and discuss theoretical and pedagogical implications of this study.

First published June 2020 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives