The viewpoint of outstanding and talented students about motivational factors influencing their academic achievement- Rafsanjan University of Medical Science (2009)

Identifying factors affecting academic achievement and attention to them is an important step in improving educational quality. Awareness of students’ viewpoints, especially talented and outstanding is very useful and effective. This study conducted to determine factors affecting the success and achievement of talent students from their viewpoints. In this descriptive study, 38 outstanding and talented students in Rafsanjan Medical University completed a researcher-made questionnaire which has been designed based on Herzberg’s theory. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by content validity and test re-tests. The data was analyzed by using t- and Chi-square tests. The finding showed the most important factors affecting the academic achievement were as follow: regular participation and presence in classroom (84.3%), tendency for continuing academic studies (81.6%), interesting to academic major (79%), encouraging family and friends (76.3%), and ability to communicate with instructors (73.6%). According to points of view of excellent students some factors especially personal characters affected their academic achievement. These factors should be considered to promote educational quality.