Testing Factorial Structure of Self-Directed Scale and Its Relationship with Academic Motivation in University Students

Rapid changes in developing science, makes self-directed and independent learners an imperative for higher education systems. This study intended to test factorial structure of self-directed learning and its relationship with academic motivation. A sample with 200 persons (112 female, 80 male,) was selected. SDLRS and AMS were used. Self-management, tendency for learning and self-control, were three factors extracted from self-direction questionnaire. It explained 27/16 % of total variance and Cronbach’s Alfa for total questionnaire and said factors was as follows, respectively: 0/87, 0.83, 0.82, and 0.66. Self-directed learning and its components had significance correlation with academic motivation. Also the results of multiple regression showed that 16% of the variance of academic motivation can be explained by self-direction and its components. T test showed that, there is no significant difference between boy and girl students in the total scale of self-direction and academic motivation. Also MANOVA test showed that there is significant difference between boy and girls.Self-directed learning preparation scale has validity and reliability and also self-direction and its factors predict academic motivation