A.

Study Interest Questionnaire (SIQ)

In the following, you will find a number of statements related to your major. Please indicate in
each case to what extent these statements are true for you.
Answers can range from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (completely true).

1. Feeling-related valences

1) Working with the subject matter and problems of my major is not really among my favorite
activities.*

2) I don't like to talk much about the subject matter related to my studies.*

3) After a long weekend or vacation I look forward to getting back to my studies.

4) Being involved with my major puts me in a good mood.

5) I prefer to talk about my hobbies rather than about my major.*

6) When I am in a library or bookstore, I like to browse through magazines or books having to

do with topics related to my major.

7) Many areas within my major don't mean anything to me.*

2. Value-related valences

8) It was of great personal importance to me to be able to study this particular subject.

9) To be absolutely honest, I feel sometimes rather indifferent towards my major.*

10) The subject matter of my major has in fact very little to do with my self-realization.*

11) Compared to other things that are of great importance to me (e.g., hobbies, social life), my
studies are of markedly less significance to me.*

12) Working with particular subject matter is more important to me than leisure and
amusement.

13) Even before I started studying, my current major was important to me.

14) I'm certain that studying my major has a positive influence on my personality.
3. Intrinsic orientation

15) If I had enough time, I would work more intensively with certain aspects of my studies,
even if they had nothing to do with any course requirements.

16) I am confident that I have chosen the major that corresponds to my personal preferences.

17) Even before coming to college I voluntarily spent time thinking about the subject matter of
my major (e.g., read books, went to lectures, had conversation with others).

18) I chose my major primarily because of the interesting subject matter involved.

* Reversed coding

These scales do not form different factors. The SIQ is unidimensional both in terms of factor
and Rasch analyses.

If you want to use a short version, we recommend the following items: 3,5,6,8,11,12,13,16,18.

For more information on the conceptualization of interest see:

Schiefele, U. (1999). Interest and learning from text. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 257-
280.

Schiefele, U. (2001). The role of interest in motivation and learning. In J. M. Collis & S.
Messick (Eds.), Intelligence and personality: Bridging the gap in theory and measurement
(pp. 163-194). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.