Motivational Orientations Re-Visited: Life-Space Motives and the Education Participation Scale

Abstract

Continuing a line of motivational research that flows from Houle's three factor typology, a model which describes adult edu cation participants as life-chance (deficiency) or life-space (growth) oriented was presented. Life-chance motivation was hypothesized as being a principal determinant of the participation behavior of people from the lower socio-economic groups while life-space moti vation was said to characterize the upper socio-economic groups. Part of the model was tested with a parent population of 242 Van couver adult education participants who completed the Education Participation Scale. E.P.S. data were subject to factor analysis and orthogonal rotation. Five factors were produced for the parent population and a sub-sample of 76 participants. Factor scores were related through correlation and analysis of variance to variables such as age, previous participation, occupation, educational attain ment, subject enrolled, and place of birth. The E.P.S. factors were labelled as indicative of life-chance or life-space motivation. Sev eral hypothesized relationships were confirmed, but it was argued that further research concerning the social and psychological foun dations of motive for participation is needed.