The Boshier's Education Participation Scale Factors Reflected in History

In the literature of andragogy and adult learning numerous authors have attempted to explain why adult learners decide to enroll in courses. Houle in 1961 started this line of research classifying adult motivations to learn into 3 categories. Later researchers, attempting to refine Houle's work, began using factor analysis to determine additional underlying causes of adult participation. Boshier, with his 6-factor, 42-item scale, is central in these later studies. This chapter takes another look at the EPS (Education Participation Scale) of Boshier but this time through the lens of history. Specifically, this chapter delves into the largest of the adult education phenomena in America in the latter 1800s, the Chautauquan Movement. Comments from adult learners who participated in Chautauqua are compared to the 7 factors and the 42 items of Boshier's Education Participation Scale, Form-F. Results of this study show a good fit between historical and modern motivations of learners.