Motivational influence in the academic achievement of students from the Universidad Continental

Abstract

The objective was to determine if a motivational program affected the academic performance of students in the Continental University. The research was of experimental type, with a single group design and measurements before and after treatment. The type of sample was not probabilistic determined by criterion; the sample size was 33 undergraduate male and female college students of different professional careers who also participated in the General Psychology class. The values that were taken into consideration in the measurements were the average grades of the middle term and the final grade. The treatment was a motivational program consisting of four sessions containing various motivational strategies. In the first session we worked on the meaning of life; in the second, time management and life on stage; in the third, suggestions (tips) or advice to avoid and overcome procrastination; and in the fourth, coping with grief and debts with the past. Using a statistical test of related samples that allowed interpreting “t” = 3,995, 32 degrees of freedom and an asymptotic significance 0.000, less than 0.05, some results were: an average pretest of 13.61 and an average post- test of 14.70. A conclusion of this study, states that the application of the motivational program, favored the increase of academic performance of the students tested; even though this increase has been minimal.