The Self-Regulation Questionnaires assess domain-specific individual differences in the types of motivation or regulation. That is, the questions concern the regulation of a particular behavior (e.g., exercising regularly) or class of behaviors (e.g., engaging in religious behaviors). The regulatory styles, while considered individual differences, are not “trait” concepts, for they are not general nor are they particularly stable. But neither are they “state” concepts, for they are more stable than typical states which fluctuate easily as a function of time and place. The format for these questionnaires was introduced by Ryan and Connell (1989). Each questionnaire asks why the respondent does a behavior (or class of behaviors) and then provides several possible reasons that have been preselected to represent the different styles of regulation or motivation. The first two questionnaires were developed for late-elementary and middle school children, and concern school work (SRQ-Academic) and prosocial behavior (SRQ-Prosocial). Their validation is described in the Ryan and Connell (1989) article. Since then, several others have been developed that are intended for adults. Those two, and five other SRQs are displayed in this section of the web site.
This questionnaire concerns the reasons why children do their school work. The scale was developed for students in late elementary and middle school. (The comparable SRQ for adults is referred to as the Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire.) Consequently, its format is slightly different from the format of the Self-Regulation Questionnaires intended for adults. First, the repsonses to each item are on a 4-point scale rather than a 7-point scale because we have found that more than 4 possible responses is not optimal for the children who complete the questionnare who are as young as about 8 years of age. Second, we typically have the children respond right on the questionnaire by circling the correct response rather than using an asnwer sheet. Again, this is easier, especially when doing a group administration to a class of students. Of course it is more work for the researcher to get the information off the questionnaires, but it is worth the trade off. Third, there are more items on the SRQs for children than the SRQs for adults in order to ensure good reliability. Fourth, the “very true” response comes first for each item, whereas on the adult questionnaire it comes last. To score the scale: Very True is scored 4; Sort of True is scored 3; Not Very True is scored 2; and Not at All True is scored 1. This way, a higher score will indicate a higher level of endorsement of that regulatory style. The SRQ-A uses four subscales: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation.
This questionnaire concerns the reasons why children engage in various prosocial behaviors. The scale was developed for children in late elementary and middle school and uses the same format as the Academic Self- Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A), which is the other SRQ developed for children. As with the SRQ-A, the responses on this SRQ-P are on a 4-point scale (rather than the 7-point scale used for adults), and the very true response comes first for each item, so the scale is scored as follows: Very True is scored 4; Sort of True is scored 3; Not Very True is scored 2; and Not at All True is scored 1. This way, a higher score will indicate a higher level of endorsement of that regulatory style. The SRQ-P uses three subscales: external regulation, introjected regulation, and identified regulation. Because these kinds of behaviors result from internalization rather than being done naturally, there is not an intrinsic motivation subscale to this questionnaire.
