Social Science Survey: GRIT & AMBITION Scales
MCC-Blue River
In Spring 2012, the Social Science Survey was developed and administered to 472 students at MCC-Blue
River. This instrument included several demographic questions; along with the Ambition Inventory and
GRIT Scale. Of the 472 students who completed the survey, 428 (90%) were matched with student ID.
Having the student ID allowed us to look at various educational factors for the student and their
responses to the survey items.
Advanced statistics were utilized to ascertain relationships between the GRIT Scale and the AMBITION
Scale. The results indicated that the GRIT score and AMBITION score were positively correlated, r(470) =
.469, p<.01. This means that as the level of “Grittiness” (or stick-to-it-ness) increased for students the
level of Ambition (ambitiousness) also increased. Figure 1 shows the percentage of students who fell
into each of the scales (N=472).
Figure 1
GRIT and AMBITION scale score group by percentage
Additionally, the following variables were analyzed for relationships between both the GRIT score and
the AMBITION score; Age, Spring 2012 Hours Attempted, Spring 2012 Hours Earned, Spring 2012 GPA,
Cumulative GPA, MCC GPA, MCC Hours Attended prior, MCC Hours Earned prior, Total MCC Hours
Attended, Total MCC Hours Earned, COMPASS Read scores, COMPASS English scores, MATH COMPASS
scores, ACT comp scores, Grades for Course Completers, Q1-Expected grade, Q2-deserved grade, Q3Time spent studying, Q4-Extent like studying.
Table 1 (pg. 2) shows the variables that were significant on either the GRIT and/or the AMBITION scales.
As you can see some correlations were positive and others were negative. This is because some of the
questions were reverse keyed. A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other
variables increases with it. There was a positive correlation between age, GPA, and hours attempted and
earned. As student’s age increased, so did their GRIT scores. In other words, younger students
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Table 1
Significance with the GRIT and AMBITION scales
Spring 2012 Results
GRIT
AMBITION
Score
Score
Age
Sig
.211**
Term GPA
Sig
.145**
Cumulative GPA
Sig
.197**
MCC GPA
Sig
.200**
MCC Hours Attended Prior
Sig
.106*
MCC Hours Earned Prior
Sig
.159**
Tot MCC Hours Attended
Sig
.109*
Tot MCC Hours Earned
Sig
.170**
Completer grades
Sig
0.122**
Q1. What is the grade you expect to
receive in this class?
Sig
-.151**
-.240**
Q2. What grade do you think you deserve
in this course?
Sig
-.150**
-.261**
Q3. How much do you study for this class
each week?
Sig
.283**
.167**
Q4. In general, to what extent do you like
to study?
Sig
-.224**
-.195**
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level.
showed less GRIT than our older students. The higher student’s grit scores mean they also had higher
semester GPA’s, cumulative GPA’s, more credit hours attempted and earned, and for those students
who completed class, they received higher grades. Additionally, for both the GRIT and AMBITION scales,
the higher the score, the more hours they reported studying.
Questions 1, 2 & 4 were reverse keyed so a negative correlation was determined. Essentially, for our
data, this means the relationship was positive, or went in the direction we would think it should. For
example, the more GRIT and Ambition a student had the higher grade they expected to receive and
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thought they deserved in class. Additionally, the “Grittier” and more “ambitious” students enjoyed
studying more than their less “gritty” and less “ambitious” classmates.
No differences were found between the following variables for the GRIT or the AMBITION scales; Spring
2012 Hours earned and attempted, COMPASS scores, ACT scores, Students withdrawal from the course,
Race/Ethnicity, Gender, or High School attended.
It is important to note that although there are many significant correlations, they are for the most part
relatively small in strength statistically. The AMBITION Scale is a shorter instrument (5 questions) than
the GRIT (12 questions) therefor being less robust. This may partially explain why there were fewer
significant correlations with the AMBITION Scale.
Future measures include obtaining Retention rates from Fall 2012 and looking at relationships between
the GRIT and AMBITION data. Additionally, there are plans to administer the Social Science Survey again
this fall at MCC-Blue River and MCC-Longview. A review of this data and the survey instrument will occur
prior to the Fall administration. The final survey will be written in our ClassClimate system on scannable
forms.
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Office of Institutional Research & Assessment