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Children's responses to interest items

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

James Athanasou  and
Iasonas Lamprianou
James Athanasou*
Affiliation:
University of Technology
Iasonas Lamprianou
Affiliation:
University of Manchester and Cyprus Testing Service
*
University of Technology, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, Australia 2007, E-mail: Jim.Athanasou@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

The purpose of this report is to provide some data on the interests of primary school pupils. Year 3 6 pupils (N=240) responded to the Inventory of Children's Activities, a 30-item general interest questionnaire based on the hexagonal interest and personality typology of Holland. Responses to a 5-point scale were dichotomized and were analysed using a Rasch model (RUMM2010). Items conformed partly to the measurement model and the six scales were characterised by moderate separability (.586 to .690). It was considered that children's interests did not conform to an adult typology; that interests may be idiosyncratic; and, an alternative hypothesis of a general interest dimension comprising all 30 items was also explored. This resulted in a dimension with 0.897 separability and Cronbach alpha of 0.828 but still with the interests of some pupils not covered appropriately.

Keywords

ChildrenCareer developmentInterest questionnaires
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , 2005 , pp. 22 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2005

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