THE PREDICTION OF ACADEMIC GRADES WITH A PROJECTIVE TEST OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION: II. CROSS‐VALIDATION AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL1

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research was concerned with a cross‐validation of a “picture‐interpretation” test of achievement motivation as a predictor of high school grades. Eighteen pictures, which were selected on the basis of the results of a previous validation study, were incorporated into two nine‐picture forms of the test, and each form was administered to a new group of male high school juniors. Validation of the test scores against academic grades, adjusted for differences in ability level, yielded small but encouraging correlations generally similar to those found in the previous study. Furthermore, an abbreviated score based upon two relatively broad scoring categories produced validities of approximately the same magnitude as those obtained with a more complicated empirically derived score, in which each picture was separately scored for a specific set of categories previously found to be most valid for that picture. For one test form total number of words written in the students' stories yielded correlations with grade achievement that were very nearly as high as those obtained with the test scores themselves. In general, there was considerable cross‐validational shrinkage in the validities of the specific picture‐category “items” Included in the empirically derived total test score. Analyses at the picture level indicated that six of the pictures yielded the most stable and promising validities. At the same time, considerable variation in the validity of pictures with relatively similar content was also revealed. The results are Interpreted as confirming the findings of the original validation study, indicating that the achievement‐motivation measures show promising relationships to high school grade achievement, adjusted for differences in ability. Although the results are not of very great immediate practical value, they are regarded as warranting continued research on the measurement of achievement motivation as a determinant of academic grade performance, and of other aspects of scholastic achievement or “success.”

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