RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Many studies have investigated the relationship between motivation and educational outcomes. The present study was conducted to determine whether the students' motivation in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) decreases during educational years. METHODS: 770 students in SUMS were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling from each field and entrance year. The first questionnaire contained 57 questions on the effect of economic, social, educational, geographical and personality factors on the students' motivation. The second one was based on 50 incomplete sentences. The validity and reliability of these questionnaires were approved by the experts and Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (85% and 90%, respectively). In this cross-sectional study, ANOVA, t-test and Chi-square tests were applied for data analysis at the 0.05 significance level. RESULTS: Six factors with the most effect on academic motivation were "family attitudes", "getting good jobs in future", "respect for themselves", " the ability to learn", "believing their role in victory and defeat" and "the tendency toward optimism about themselves". In addition, comparing professional doctorate and basic sciences' results revealed no significant relationship between academic motivation and educational years (F=0.819, p=0.397). But comparing field by field showed that Dentistry and Hospital Management and Medical Information (HMMI) had a significant decrease in motivation score by increase in educational years (F=3.991, p=0.015). CONCLUSION: Achievement motivation level in SUMS students was higher than average and did not decrease during educational years. Also, the results showed that personal, social and educational related factors affected motivation level more than economic and environmental factors.
RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The present study aimed to find an appropriate method to inform senior high school students to correctly select their academic field of study and their intentions. METHODS: This is a descriptive-analytic and cross-sectional study. A verified questionnaire was given to a total of 2600 students selected by stratified random sampling method (ten different colleges and entrance year from the 1(st) to 4(th) are considered as the strata). The position of the present field of study (major) among the list of the fields in the entrance exam was asked. The students' methods of familiarity with different fields of study in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), the reasons for their selection, the students' motivation and insistence on studying in the same field and university were asked in the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using independent two samples t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Chi-Square test. RESULTS: The most significant references for university field selection were high school teachers, the students' parents and the adjacency of university to one's living place. Also, the results revealed the good reputation of SUMS in the first year and its downward trend during the following years. 59.4% of the 1(st) year students were satisfied with their field of study and SUMS. 31.8% were satisfied with the university but not with their fields of study. 6.4% were dissatisfied with the university but not with their fields of study. 2% of the students were dissatisfied with both their fields of study and university. Dissatisfaction with SUMS and field of study increased little by little so that the results obtained among the students who had entered the university earlier (in the 4(th) year of their study) showed nearly 16.3% dissatisfaction with both the university and the study fields. CONCLUSION: The methods for introducing the university are recommended to be revised.
