Every student knows how important it is to do well in school and have good grades but do all students get good grades? The answer is no. While poor study habits are a leading cause of student failure, lack of motivation is a close second. Also, poor study habits are often rooted in a lack of motivation to learn and apply the knowledge.

Measuring student motivation with questionnaires helps you understand your students’ attitudes toward learning and the reasons behind those attitudes. This also guides you in boosting student morale before it leads to poor performance and, eventually, academic records that could negatively impact their future opportunities.

Let’s look at how to create a student motivation survey to help your students maintain their prospects.

Understanding What Inspires Students with Surveys

Ben Carson didn’t know the extent of his genius until he was motivated to learn and his attitude towards learning changed. Student motivation is the internal desire and outside pressures that compel students to accomplish the work of learning and excel at an academic standard. It’s the “why” behind a student’s desire to learn, explore, and grow.

While most people think motivation is something they are born with, it’s really not true. It can be learned and is influenced by various factors both internal and external.

Types of Motivation

1. Intrinsic Motivation: This happens when you gravitate towards learning and exploring and find satisfaction in mastering new skills and concepts. It’s that feeling of curiosity and excitement when discovering new knowledge.  For example, learning to play a new instrument or a game—you saw it, became curious, learned it, and now you can do it too.
2. Extrinsic Motivation: This happens when your primary motivation to learn is not from within but rather a prize such as rewards, grades, praise, acceptance, or the avoidance of punishment. Your eyes are on the end goal not just the learning itself. For example, learning branding strategy is one of the skills you need to become a Communications Lead and it’s a role you really want, so you learn brand strategy not just because it’s interesting but because of the prize attached to it.

Which Is Better Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation?

Both are very important, it just depends on the situation. Intrinsic motivation means you are not seeking validation or incentives to learn, you’re doing it because you want to, but what happens when you don’t want to?

Extrinsic motivators get you to learn even when you don’t want to because you know there are consequences to not learning. Motivating students externally with recognition and scholarships shows that their hard work matters, and if they continue to be passionate about learning, there’s much to be achieved, further igniting that passion.

However, it’s not sustainable to initiate deep learning, you will only learn as much as you need to. How would you discover new knowledge or innovate if you never got past the essential? It takes a deep interest to research and apply the knowledge to advance technology or science, so what is the point of learning if it won’t improve anything?

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation work together to motivate students to learn regardless of the circumstances.

Impact of Motivation on Learning

Here are the most common results of maintaining a positive attitude to learning:

• Engagement: Highly motivated students go the extra mile to learn; they ask questions, actively participate in class discussions, thoroughly show a genuine curiosity for new concepts, and look for additional resources to deeply understand what they are learning.
• Effort and Persistence: Motivated students are more likely to put in the effort to succeed than unmotivated students. They persevere through all difficulties, prepared to resolve every issue and learn from each error. It’s how Heddy Lamarr despite majoring in an entirely different career invented frequency hopping that gave us Wi-Fi.
• Excellent Academic Performance: Motivation and academic achievement are strongly connected. Students with intrinsic motivation usually perform at a higher level in school and display a greater amount of important thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
• Growth Mindset: Highly motivated students are quite likely to cultivate a growth mindset, coupled with a belief that they can further develop their abilities through huge dedication. They are not deterred by tough tasks, they see failures as chances to get better.

Benefits of Using a Student Motivation Survey

Here’s why you need to conduct a student motivation survey:

Insight

• Uncover Hidden Motivators: Surveys enable teachers to find out about students’ motivations and uncover hidden interests, hobbies, and learning modes.
• Find Out Potential Hindrances: Knowing students’ perceptions of challenges, irritations, and fears, helps educators identify learning difficulties and come up with ways to overcome them.
• Assess the Impact of Current Practice: Student feedback can also help you evaluate whether current teaching methods and classroom practices are effectively stimulating students.

Pedagogy Customization

• Personalized Learning: The motivation survey data helps you know each student’s strengths and weaknesses. You can use this information to construct a unique learning model for each individual according to students’ own motivational and learning needs.
• Differentiated Instruction: You can also identify and differentiate students’ instruction models according to each learner’s learning needs and interests.
• Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences: Most students especially children and adolescents need to be interested in learning, knowing their intrinsic motivation levels and coupling it with extrinsic motivators can help you get them interested. It is much easier to design engaging and realistic learning contexts when you know what piques students’ interests and curate their learning methods to fit their interests.

Engagement

• Amplified Learner Participation: When learners feel valued and listened to, they are more willing to participate actively in classes. This is why it is so important to conduct motivation surveys because they place students in a position where they can freely share their thoughts about different learning methods and topics and what resonates the most with them.
• Better Classroom Climate: Educators will motivate and engage all learners in the teaching and learning process if their classrooms’ primary goal is motivating students to love learning and exploring new concepts. This also improves their academic performance and fosters their love for learning long-term.
• Developing Better Relations Between Teachers And Students: Surveys help students communicate their needs and points of view to the educator. This helps educators strengthen their bond with students and meet their needs.

Key Components of a Student Motivation Survey

Here are the major sections that should be in your motivation survey:

• Demographic Information: This includes students’ names, courses, classes, ages, educators, and addresses.
• Motivational Drivers: questions that help you identify what motivates students’ passion for growth e.g. recognition, rewards, curiosity, etc.
• Challenges: questions help students mention their learning obstacles such as classroom environment, teaching methods, etc.
• Preferences: It helps you discover students’ preferred learning styles and activities
• Feedback: leave an open-ended comment for students to give feedback on current teaching methods and materials.

Sample Survey Questions

Demographics

• What grade are you in?
• How old are you?
• What is your gender? (Optional)

Intrinsic Motivation:

• Do you enjoy learning new things? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• What subjects or topics are you most interested in? (Open-ended)
• Do you feel a sense of accomplishment when you solve a difficult problem or topic? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you set personal academic goals for yourself? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you feel motivated to study even without external rewards (e.g., grades, praise)? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you read or study beyond your school syllabus? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you participate in academic competitions or activities? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you apply what you learn at school in your daily life? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• What aspects of your studies do you find most satisfying? (Open-ended)

Extrinsic Motivation:

• Do grades motivate you to study? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Does praise from teachers motivate you to study harder? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do rewards (e.g., prizes, scholarships) motivate you? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you study more when you have an upcoming test or assignment? (Yes/No/Sometimes)

Learning Habits and Preferences

• How many hours per day do you study outside of class time? (Open-ended or multiple choice)
• Do you have a specific study schedule? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• What is your preferred study environment? (Open-ended)
• Do you use any specific study techniques or methods? (Open-ended)
• Do you take regular breaks while studying? (Yes/No/Sometimes)
• Do you prefer studying alone or in a group? (Alone/Group/Both)
• Do you use any digital tools or apps to aid in your studies? (Yes/No)
  • What app do you use (add logic so respondents that select yes can answer this question).
• What do you do when you feel unmotivated to study? (Open-ended)

Open-Ended Questions for Deeper Insights

• What are your strongest subjects in school?
• What subjects do you find difficult?
• What are the factors that impact your willingness to work hard at school?
• In what ways do you think the teachers or school as a whole can motivate you more?
• What are your future academic or career goals?

How to Implement the Motivation Survey Form Template

Here’s how to create your student motivation questionnaire with Formplus:

• Open the student motivation survey 
• Edit the questions to fit your survey goals. This is optional, you don’t have to do this if the survey already fits your research goals.
• Customize the form’s look and feel by changing its theme, color, or font. You can also add a background image.
• Preview and test the form to ensure it is mobile-responsive.
• Share the form with participants via QR code, direct link, social media cards, or embed it on a webpage.
• Collect and analyze the responses.

You can also conduct follow-up surveys or observations to assess the impact of the interventions on student motivation and engagement.

Best Practices for Effective Surveys

• Clarity: Use simple, straightforward language. Avoid jargon and complex terminology that may confuse students. Provide clear instructions and examples for each question type. This helps students understand how to respond accurately.
• Brevity: Keep the survey concise-  shorter surveys are more likely to be completed by students. So, focus on the most important questions that will provide the most valuable insights.
• Relevance: Ensure all questions directly relate to student motivation. Avoid including irrelevant questions that may distract students or waste their time. Consider different aspects of motivation, such as intrinsic vs. extrinsic factors, interests, challenges, and learning preferences.
• Confidentiality: Assure students that their responses will be kept confidential. This encourages honest and open feedback. Emphasize that individual responses will not be shared publicly.
• Feedback Loop: Share the key findings of the survey with students. This demonstrates that their input is valued and that their feedback is being used to improve the learning experience. Explain how the survey results will be used to inform instructional decisions and classroom practices.

Conclusion

Understanding and improving student motivation helps encourage a positive attitude to learning. It also helps you see student perspectives and tailor teaching methods to individual needs to improve student learning outcomes, Here’s a template to get you started.

You can also measure educators’ motivation using the employee motivation survey to understand the relationship between student vs educator motivation.