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Rev ised Manual
For
Ach iev em ent Motive Test (ACMT)
(Based on Sentence Completion Method)

V. P. Bhargava, Ph. D.
Retd. Head, Department of Psychology
A. B. S. College, AGRA .

199 4

Estd. 1971 Phone 364926

NAT ION AL PSYCHOLOGICAL CORPORATION

4/230, Kacheri Ghat, AGR A- 282 004
2 Manual fQr ACMT

REV" ISED MANUAL

. ,.

FOR

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVE TEST (ACMT)

Introduction
A great deal of work on Motivation has been done in India and abroad..
Experimental investigations in the field of learning, personality conce
rning the
motivational behaviours have been done by Murray, Atkinson,
associates of
Atkinson and by Mc Clelland~ The findings of such studies
have thrown
consid~rable light 1-on the various variables, (personal and
1
socio-cultural)
influe~bi"ng :the~m.otiv~tipnal behaviour of the person and
the persons
b~l_onging to:~certain1 .-iit§~p~~.
Theories· for motivational behaviour ~ave been
given~ vast nUmbe.r \,qf researches have appeared in print (4,
6) : Various
motives like hunger, sex, power, dependency, affiliation, Achievement
Motive,
Approval Motive, Power Motive etc:, and emotions like fear,
aggression,
anxiety and rivalry have been studied. The majority of the studie
s have been
don~ following the technique fnvolving free-association and
projective
techni9ue which w~re pioneered by Sigmund Freud, Murray, Mc
Clelland and
. others. Few studies have been done by other psychologists like
Elizabeth G
French (French Insight Test) and Eliot Aronson (Graphic Expression
Method).
They make use of the verbal cues instead of picture cue~! The results
of both
the devices yield results which are highly comparable and correla
tional.
[?a-Charm~ obtained Value-Achievement (YAch) Score as a
measure of
Achievement Motivation. This measure consisted of nine Questionnai
re items
which the Ss checked in terms of the extent of agreement. The sum·
of these in
each response was his VAch Score.
IOWA Picture Interpretation Test (IPIT) was another technique
to
measure Need Achievement (NAch).. But according to Hurley and
Brown, IPIT
is related to another behaviour in the, same way as are the N Ach
Scores to
TAT: Following IPIT, Heilburn ~chievement Need Scale derived from
Gough's
Adjective Check-list and Edward's Personal.Preference Schedule
{EPPS), Dr.
Bishwanath Mukherji (10)*· gave a forced-choice Test of Achie
vement
Motivation on American sampl~,. A cross-cultural study on the same
measure
was done on the Indian sample in Bihar. With ,' reliability index (Test
re-test
reliability after an interval of two months) of •71 and other cross-
validation
results which were satisfactory, the use of Sentence Completion_ Test
(SCT) as
a measure of N Ach is very strongly recommended_. It fTlay be mentio
ned here
th~t the use of verbal measures of N Ach suffer too ~ch with
language
variables, values, Social desirability, Intelligence and training effects
. Despite
. of the above criticism the use of language measures of N Ach
are fairly in
practice than non-language meas~res.
* Figures In the parenthesis indicate the references given at the ~nd of
the manual.
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Manual for ACMT 3

N,,tl. Achi1v1m,n1 (N Ach)

The N Ach is characterized by a· desire to attaln·-a high standard of
excellence and to accomplish ~he unique objectives~ In such a situation a
subject shows concern with competetion with a standard of excellenc~. Such
a concern may be stated explicitly or may have sufficient evidence of such a
competition~ The self-imposed requirement for good performance and the
description of instrumental acts form the quality of the work Sometimes they
•
1

are involved in long term· goals of achievement or in the accomplishment of

some unique work. This may be called as Need to Accomplishing something
worthwhile, unique or excellent or Need for Mastery.

The researches concerning N Ach have shown that •(1) Achievement

Motive is a drive which can be aroused by inducing a situati(?n of 'ego
involvement' or Achievement orientation. This situation produces the same
kind of- effect on the subject's projection· as is in the case of manipulation in
hunger and sex deprivation. (2) Achievement Motive varies from person to
person, group to group and is open to cultural influences: Achievement
Motivation may be acquired through social and cultural miliue and training'
programmes. (3) The Achievement is acquired by following. the same process •
as in the case of reward and punishment. •

The Present Test

&he present test is intended to measure the N Ach score of the persoQ, It
is based on the lines following the pattern of Bishwanath Mukherji* and the
method_ of Sentence Completjon Test: The test consists of 50 items of
incomplete sentences/item/which are to be completed by the Ss by putting a
check-mark~ on any one of the three alternative responses given against each
item: The Ss are instructe~ about what they have to do and are required to
check the item by choosing one of the alternative responses which indicate
his true feelings with respect to the point asked through_ a particular iterl_l. It is
expected and believed that the subject while engag_~~ in the process of
_. cl1~9king the item would consider all the possible aspects which may be
.thougtlt of about the item at that time. Thus, his check on the alternative
responses (wnich he chooses so) would indicate his true feelings~ In this wa~
all the items are to be checked indicating his. responses on the whole testJ
Another special feature of the test is that items are repeated more than once in
order to know the level of consistency with which the subject is answering the
test. Similar responses on similar test items indicate the consistency in
I

responding to the test. This has been done so as to avoid the time interval
gap effect which is usually present where test retest is done allowing a time
gap, Care has been taken to cover as many aspects as are conveniently
permissible and possible from administration point of view_. The usual time
which is needed for administering the test is 30 minutes including the time
needed for giving the instructions to the Ss: It is desirable that .the test

l * The author acknowledges with thanks the help taken from the test of Dr. B.N.
Mukherji. •• . ,
4 Manual for ACMT

administrator while giving the test to the Ss should get them seated in such a
way that they may not talk to each other or consult each other about the '
responses which they should check. This Is sufficient to check the faklng of
responses which Is usually happening when the test Is being administered in
a group situation. The author feels that language variable influences and the
social desirability or approval Influences cannot possibly be reduced. It may
always be present.·
The construction of the test was done by following the procedure which
was collection of items in Hindi from different sources (through experts in
Hindi language and Psychology),. pooling them and then selecting them
according to the respective merits of the items. The similar procedure was
followed for fixing the possible alternative responses which have similar
competetiv e attraction value. In this the help given by the experts and
consultants is than~fully acknowleged. When a rough format of the test (with
75) items was ready a preliminary testing programme was carried on 35
subjec~s in order to check the administrative feasibility of the test and also to
find out which of the items are 'not good' and may be easily dropped (without
loosing anything) in the test. The final draft was accepted after taking into
consideration the reliability and validity of the test. The inter-consistency
among the test items, the reliability of the responses and criterion validity was
obtained which was high enough for accepting the test for use as a measure
of Achievement Motivation.
Similar method was adopted for developing the English version of the
ACM~ •
Reliabilities
For Hindi Test
Test-retest reliability after an interval of One month: •87
By comparing the responses on similar items : •79
Considering the responses if they indicate to measure the same aspects
for which they were intended to measure, it was found that they did so,
the index of reliability being •78. • : . • . • •
For English Version of the test the values of reliability were •91 and . 78 . .: -~--- _
. .
Validation Indices
The test was tried for having the agreement with the criterion test of N
Ach, and with educational achievement in ,arious faculties. It was found
that the test scores on this test and that with the test-scores for SCT of
Dr. Bishwanath Mukherji had an agreement of .80 and with Educational
Achievement Test (General) it had ~n agreement of •75.
For English Version the values' of Validity indices were .85 with
Educational Achievement Test.

Scoring
The pr~cedure for sco~ing i~ very simple. It .can be done with the help of
a scoring key. (Provided in the Appendix A). Each item indicating
Achievement Motivatio~ (N Ach) .is given a score of 1 and the total score
earned on all the items 1s the N-Ach Score.
t
 Manual for ACMT 5
Norms for English Version of A
They will be provided wh CMT are In the process of development.
en established. •

Norms*
As a result of administ • .
Hindi Version on a sam le enng th e Achievement Motivation Test (ACMT)
O
and 300 Females) of a f GOO college going students of Agra (300 Males
as percentile norms w;s ~ange 16 to 22 ~ears the category wise classification
one. The following table presents the classification :

Category
Scores

Boys Girls
High ~23 and above 23 and above
Above Average 19-22 20-22
Average 17-18 17-19
Below Average 15-16 14-16
Low 11-14 11-13
y_;

Interpretation

Low Category

Typifies subjects performance lower than ordinary one.

Below Average

Refers subjects performance is simpler than routine performance.

Average

Refers to average performance nothing worth mentioning.

Above Average
Refers performances superior than average one. Casual an appreciation
is often done.

High
Refers to outstanding performances worth appreciable and mentioning.

* Norms for English Version of the test are under the process of development.
 6 Manual for ACMT

I Appendix-A
I
Scoring Key for the Achievement Motivation Test
(Hindi/English Version)
Item Nos. Item Nos.
1. 1T C 26. q; A
2. 1T C 27, Tf C
3. lT C C
28. Tf
4. TT C 29. cfi A
5. qi
A 30. Tf C
6. '{g B 31. B
7. qi A 32, B
8. B 33. Tf C
9. '{g B 34. lJ C
10. qi A 35. <ii A
11. TT C 36. lJ C
12. '{g B 37. B
13. '{g B 38. lJ c.
14. '{g B 39. lJ C
15. lJ C 40. '{g e
16. '{g B 41. lJ C
17. '{g B 42. lJ C
18. '{g B 43. <ii A
19. TT C 44. '{g B
20. -lJ C 45. e
21. '{g B 46. '{g e
.
\ I 22. <ii A 47. lJ C
23. TT C 48. lJ C
24. TT C 49. '{g B
25. '{g B 50. <ii A
 Manual for ACMT 7

,., \ - ·~·~ · ... ..REfE.RENCES.

'

Aronson, {1956) The Need for Achievement as measured by Graphic

Expression. Unpublished Masters Thesis, Wesleyan University.
Atkinson, J. W. {1954) An Introduction to Motivation, Report on Nebraska
Symposium on Motivation, (:t.Q64}:
Atkinson, J. W. {1966) An Introduction to Motivation. East-West Ed.
Bhargava, V.P. {1973) A study of Level of Aspiration and Need for
Achievement Motive, Ph.D. ·Dissertation, Agra Univ.
Mukherji Bishwanath, (1965) A Forced choice Test of Achievement
motivation, J. of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 2, 85-89.
Brown J.S. (1953) Problems presented by the concept of acquired Drives.
In Current Theories and R~search in Motivation Ed. M.A. Jones,
Lincoln University of Nebraska Press.
De charma et al. (1955) Behavioural correlates of directly and indirectly
measured Achievement motivation. In Studies on Motivation by Mc
Clelland D.C. Appleton-Century, Crofts ~.Y.
. Feathers, N.T. and Atkinson, J. W. (1967) A Theory of Achievement
Motivation. John Wiley & Sons N.Y.
Elizabeth {1955) Some Characteristics of Achievement Motivation,
J. Exp. Psy. 50, 232-236.
Freud, Sigmund (1938) Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. N.Y. Random
House.
Hurley; (1955) The IOWA Picture Interpretation Test. J. Consult Psy.
19, 372-376.
Mc Clelland, D. C. (1953) The Achievement Motive, Appleton Century-
Crofts. New York.
Murray, H.A. (1938) Explorations in Personality. Oxford Univ. Press, New
York. •

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