Testing predictions from self determination theory using programme for international student assessment (Pisa) 2012 data for mathematics learning

The main aim of the study was to test the predictions of SDT in the sample of PISA 2012 for mathematics learning domain. In this study, data for SDT related variables were obtained from the data supplied by PISA 2012 study. Mathematics autonomy, mathematics competence and relatedness to school were expected to predict mathematics intrinsic and extrinsic motivations significantly and positively in the total sample of PISA 2012 (N= 485490). The relationships between variables were transformed in to SEM. Moreover, cultural invariance of the effects of the basic psychological needs on types of mathematics motivation was tested in the nine countries (Finland, Japan, Lithuania, Russia, Thailand, Spain, UK, Turkey, and Brazil) which were selected from nine different cultural clusters in WVM 6 (N= 93659). MG-CFA and MG-SEM were used to test the cultural invariance.The proposed model fit the data in the total sample of PISA 2012. Except for the relationships between relatedness to school and mathematics intrinsic motivation, all of the relationships between basic psychological needs and types of mathematics motivation were significant. Although there is a differences in the significance of the relationships of relatedness to school for Thailand and Spain with respect to other countries, the difference were not statistically significant and an empirical evidence for the cultural invariance of the effects of basic psychological needs was provided by the results. As a result, except for the relationship between mathematics intrinsic motivation and relatedness to school, all of the predictions of SDT were consistent with the results obtained by this study.