Survey on the Learning Motives of Students in Medical Vocational Colleges

1029 subjects from three medical vocational colleges in Henan Province were surveyed to find out about their learning motives by means of the Working Motivation Inventory (WMI). The results showed that: (1) in term of gender difference regarding intrinsic motives, the male subjects are significantly lower than the females in dimension of the learning enthusiasm, and their scores too are obviously lower than that of their female peers when tested by the intrinsic motive WMI; as for extrinsic motives, the males scored much less than the females in terms of the dependence on others’ evaluation, the choice of simple tasks, and extrinsic motives WMI test, yet they showed a greater concern in the pursuit of returns than the females. (2) in term of grade difference, significant differences are found in dimensions of the extrinsic motives like the dependence on others’ evaluation and the choice of simple tasks and extrinsic motives WMI test scores; (3) On the difference of only-child and non-only-child students, the only-child students scored a lot higher marks than the non-only-child students in terms of the learning enthusiasm and the intrinsic motives WMI test; as for the extrinsic motives, the only-child students give a much poorer performance in dimensions of dependence on others’ evaluation, the choice of simple tasks, and the extrinsic motive WMI test score.