This article speculates on an underlying order obscured by the details of the Boshier-Collins cluster analysis and the mapping of Houle's types onto it. A table illustrates an interpretation of cluster analysis on Boshier's Education Participation Scale. (CT)

As the population of older adults increases, the field of adult education needs to respond accordingly. The study reported in this paper examined motivations for learning among older adults actively engaged in formal lifelong learning. One hundred eighty-nine members of a Learning in Retirement institute were surveyed using Boshier's Education…

In this study, Education Participation Scale data from 13,442 learners in Africa, Asia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States were combined and subjected to a cluster analysis designed to examine the extent to which Houle's typology fitted the phenomenological reality that exists within adult education participants. Results are described.…

The methodology employed in fourteen motivational orientation studies is reviewed. All studies used either the Education Participation Scale, the Continuing Learning Orientation Index, or the Reasons for Educational Participation Scale. Issues discussed concern factor scoring, factor analysis, rotation, scaling, reliability, and the extent to…

In Western countries, women and men, young and old, enroll in adult education for different reasons. This is even more the case in China. This study helps Shanghai program planners better appreciate learners by understanding how motivational orientations vary as a function of gender and age. The Chinese version of the Education Participation Scale…