Love of science vs reward: the place of terminal and instrumental motives in the structure of students' research activity

This article presents the results of a study on the motivation of students in Russian universities for research work. The authors consider the influence of various factors in the modern academic environment on students' motivation based on the traditional theory of terminal and instrumental motivation. The study's relevance lies in the necessity to monitor research on student motivation in the workforce crisis of higher education, as students involved in science with early academic career experience are considered today as the highest quality talent pool for university science. The issue is that while external institutional support measures for young researchers facilitate their entry into the academic community, they cannot retain them. The formation of a stable value-motivational core of students' research activities is seen as a potential solution to this issue. The goal of the article is to determine the dominant motives for students' participation in research activities in the first two levels of higher education in Russia. The analysis also considers the influence of students' socio-demographic characteristics (gender, educational background, field of study, form of education, place of residence before entering university, and the financial situation of the family), success (training and research activities), the presence of a research tutor, and plans. The empirical basis of the article is the results of a nationwide study on the research culture among Russian students, conducted in February–March 2023. 3,032 students from 37 universities across all federal districts of the country were interviewed by mass online survey. The study concludes that the participation of modern Russian students in research activities is motivated by a combination of terminal and instrumental motives. Extreme forms of terminal or instrumental motives are not typical of modern youth. Factors of the academic environment such as academic success and the presence of a research tutor are more significant for the creation of terminal motivation for students to participate in research than socio-demographic factors. The practical importance of the results lies in the possibility of their application in the development of programs for involving students in research fields, as well as scientific mentoring programs in Russian universities.

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