The measuring instrument was applied to each university
student individually and in only one moment by the same
researcher. To achieve this, the classes randomly selected
for the present study were visited by this researcher, who
explained the study objectives and principles of anonymity
to students. Those who signed an informed consent form
received a copy of the EMI-2 with instructions for selfcompletion
and information about the researcher’s
availability for clarifications. This instrument was completed
and returned by participants and subsequently put in a ballot
box. Data were collected between May and June 2008.
The statistical treatment of data was performed with the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS),
version 20.0. Initially, the frequency distribution was tested
with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. As the data showed a
normal frequency distribution, parametric statistical methods
were used with the calculation of the mean and standard
deviation. Multivariate (MANOVA) and univariate variance
analyses (ANOVA) were subsequently used to establish
comparisons among the strata formed, where motivational
factors were the dependent variables and the sociodemographic
indicators selected were the independent
variables, followed by Scheffe’s multiple comparison test to
identify specific differences. The study design was approved
by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the State University
of Londrina, state of Paraná (official opinion 214/07).