Resumen de Intercollegiate debate: why do students bother?
This study addresses the question “Why do debaters debate?” Although assumptions have been made by previous researchers, the question has not been directly investigated. The importance of an answer to this question is illustrated at four levels: the speech communication discipline, the college administrator, the debate coach, and the individual debater. Content analysis is used to ascertain the range of motivational interpretations among college debaters at three southeastern tournaments. Findings witness the emergence of a core of four broad motivational interpretations and begin to challenge the assumed importance of competition as a primary motivation.
