International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2015, 7 (3), 128 - 134 © 2015 International Online Journal of Educational Sciences (IOJES) is a publication of Educational Researches and Publications Association (ERPA) www.iojes.net International Online Journal of Educational Sciences ISSN: 1309-2707 Value Orientations of Students in Physical Education and Sports Departments at Various Universities * Ümran Yahşi 1 and Oğuz Özbek 2 1 Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ankara, Turkey; 2 Ankara University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Ankara, Turkey. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Received 19.11.2014 Received in revised form 31.05.2015 Accepted 12.06.2015 Available online 12.07.2015 The aim of this research was to determine the opinions of the students in relation to the orientations of value at the School of Physical Education and Sports at Ankara University, Gazi University, and Hacettepe University in Ankara (Turkey). The research is a survey method. Scale is used as a tool of data collection. The tool of data collection was applied to 625 students in total, including 175 students in the School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) at Ankara University, 265 students in the School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) at Gazi University, 185 students in the School of Sports Sciences and Technology (SSST) at Hacettepe University. In order to examine whether the value orientations are different or not in terms of gender, independent t-test has been used, while and opinions on the schools and classes have been tested by One-Way Anavo test. LSD test has been used to test the differences among the groups. The first three most important values are seen to be being successful, being virtuous and being smart. However, the three values, which have the least importance, have been determined as being rich, living an exciting life and kindness. It has been found that male students attach more importance to dimension of stimulation than the female students, and that students in the SPES at Ankara University attach more importance to dimension of self-direction than students in the SSST at Hacettepe University and students in the SPES at Gazi University. © 2015 IOJES. All rights reserved Keywords: Values, value orientations, physical education and sports students. Introduction Developments in the domains of science and technology have led to changes in people’s value judgements and in priorities of their values. Changes experienced in the values can also affect the social life. Research has been done on values which provides practical information for those working in the social field (Wojciszke, 1989). A value is something about belief which can be desired or cannot be desired” (Gungor, 2000). Values are beliefs which are both desired or undesired or considered instinctual (Feather, 1995).Values play a major role in directing people’s attitudes and behaviors as well (Gurkan et al., 2000). According to Aydın (2001) who quotes from Lamberton and Minor, a value -which is important for individuals- can be defined as any kind of mindset, object or event. Values -which are not innate- are cognitive structures that are learned subsequently in the society where an individual was born and grew up through the interpersonal interactions (Demirutku, 2007). Value is a process which is transmitted through the language and culture and occurs in complex human interactions generation after generation (Thomas, 2000). Each individual has countless values with different levels of importance (Bardi & Schwartz, 2003). Community people grew up in and their education affect their value preferences (Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987). These values guide for the evaluation of behavior and events by profoundly affecting the human life (Kilby, 1993; * This article was presented at the 11th International Congress of Sports Sciences, November 10-12, 2010, Antalya, Turkey. 2 Corresponding author’s address: Ankara University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Ankara, Turkey. Telephone: 0312 223 31 63 Fax: 0312 212 29 86 e-mail: oozbek@sports.ankara.edu.tr DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15345/iojes.2015.03.011