GoalSettingQuestionnaireInfo PDF
GoalSettingQuestionnaireInfo PDF
Technical Report
Overview
What This Questionnaire Measures
In the context of education, goal setting often refers to identifying specific academic objectives, but a wider
definition encompasses specific short or long-term life or career objectives (Gaumer Erickson & Noonan, 2017).
Research conducted by Locke and Latham (2002) found that individuals perform better when they have goals
that “direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant activities” and away from actions that don’t relate to the
goal. In short, goal setting can be defined as focusing on your own improvement by identifying goals that are
meaningful and based on data (Gaumer Erickson & Noonan, 2016).
The Goal Setting Formative Questionnaire is designed to measure a student’s proficiency in the three essential
components of goal setting, which are:
Set a goal that is:
1. Meaningful to you.
2. Focused on your own personal improvement; don’t compare yourself to others.
3. Based on data, including prior experiences; interests and skills; and feedback of family members,
teachers, peers, or another trusted person.
The items on the questionnaire are written at a sixth-grade reading level, per the Flesch-Kincaid1 readability
score. Accommodations should be provided when appropriate and can include reading the items aloud,
explaining the items, and having a scribe fill in the response option.
Students can use the questionnaire results to gain an understanding of the various elements that are necessary
for them to successfully achieve their goals. They can use their individual results to address areas of the goal
setting process in which they, according to their own reporting, are not performing as well.
Teachers can enhance their instructional practices by determining which areas of their students’ goal setting
abilities to target. After combining this targeted instruction with guided and independent practice, teachers can
continually re-administer the Goal Setting Formative Questionnaire and alter their instruction accordingly. This
allows teachers to engage in a process of data-driven decision making in order to increase their students’
fundamental ability to set and achieve goals that are meaningful to the students, focused on personal
improvement rather than comparison to others, and based on reasonable expectations and insightful feedback.
Numerous resources for teaching goal setting are available at http://CCCFramework.org/Resources.html.
Technical Information
The Goal Setting Formative Questionnaire was initially developed in 2015 by Research Collaboration
(http://ResearchCollaboration.org). An extensive review of related research resulted in the identification of
three components that are essential for successful goal setting. Following this literature review, it was
determined that effective goals are meaningful to the individual, focused on personal improvement as opposed
to outperforming others, and, to be achievable and adaptable, based on reliable information including past
experience and/or feedback from others.
The questionnaire was tested for reliability using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha 2 with 3,486 4th through post-high
school students. Of the 3,486 students, 1,678 (48%) were female, 1,545 (44%) were male, and 263 (8%) did not
report gender. The dataset includes 235 students in fourth-grade, 313 in fifth-grade, 215 in sixth-grade, 525 in
seventh-grade, 335 in eighth-grade, 467 in ninth-grade, 153 in tenth-grade, 227 in eleventh-grade, 432 in
twelfth-grade, and 584 post-high school.
1
Kincaid, J.P., Fishburne, R.P., Rogers, R.L., & Chissom, B.S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulas
(automated readability index, fog count, and Flesch reading ease formula) for Navy enlisted personnel. Research
Branch Report 8–75. Chief of Naval Technical Training: Naval Air Station Memphis.
2
Cronbach, L.J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.;
Cronbach, L.J. (1988). Internal consistency of tests: Analyses old and new. Psychometrika, 53, 63–70.
Overall, the goal setting questionnaire was found to be highly reliable (19 items; α = .919).
The meaningful subscale consisted of 6 items (α = .811), the personal improvement subscale consisted of
6 items (α = .802), and the data-based subscale consisted of 7 items (α = .815). When converted to a 100-point
scale, the bottom quartile ranged from 22 to 71 and the top quartile ranged from 88 to 100.The questions that
make up each component are listed below.
Meaningful
1. I set short-term goals for myself (like finishing all my homework or exercising for an hour).
2. I set long-term goals for myself such as earning a college degree or entering a career.
3. I set goals to achieve what I think is important.
4. I imagine what life will be like when I reach my goal.
5. My goals are meaningful to me.
6. My goals are based on my own interests and plans for the future.
Personal Improvement
7. I set goals to help me improve myself.
8. I set goals to help me be more successful in school.
9. I set goals to help me do my personal best.
10. When I want to learn something, I make small goals to track my progress.
11. I focus on my own improvement instead of worrying about whether other people are doing better than me.
12. Even if I lose a competition, I'm pleased if I have improved.
Data-Based
13. Based on everything I know about myself, I believe I can achieve my goals.
14. When I set goals, I think about barriers that might get in my way.
15. When I’m struggling, I set goals to help me improve.
16. I set goals that are challenging but achievable.
17. I set short-term goals to help me achieve my long-term goals.
18. When setting a goal, I think about my past successes and failures.
19. When I set a goal, I am confident that I can meet it.
Questionnaire