Development of a Questionnaire on Subject Interest among Primary School Students

Abstract

The development of interest can improve the efficiency and quality of students’ learning activities. Previous research mainly explored professional interest, but less on subject interest. This study designed and validated a subject interest questionnaire for primary school students to assess their potential to predict academic performance and offer reference for educational assessment and counseling. A sample of 545 students from two primary schools in Beijing was selected. The questionnaire consisted of 138 questions involving eight major courses, such as Chinese, mathematics and English. Through analysis, questions with good discrimination and social desirability were screened out, and nine questions of each sub-scale were finally retained. According to the result, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire reached an acceptable level. Further analysis of exploratory and confirmatory factors revealed that the subject interest can be summarized into two dimensions: “humanities-related factor” and “mathematics-related factor”. The two dimensions are consistent with the “human and material dimensions” proposed by ACT. As a preliminary exploration, this study lays a foundation for further research on the relationship between subject interest and basic interest and provides a practical evaluation tool for primary education.