What Constitutes Situational Interest? Validating a Construct in Physical Education

Situational interest has been theoretically articulated as a multidimensional construct that derives from person-activity interaction. This 4-stage study empirically examined the multidimensionality of situational interest in physical education, using an iterative, multisample design. Middle school students (N = 674) were asked to view jogging and gymnastic stunts on video (in Stages 1,2, and 3) and participate in basketball chest-pass and pass-shoot activities (in Stage 4). Immediately following each activity, situational interest of the activity was assessed by having the students respond to an instrument developed to measure the 7 dimensions of situational interest. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to examine the dimensionality of situational interest. The analyses revealed 5 dimensions of situational interest: Novelty, Challenge, Exploration Intention, Instant Enjoyment, and Attention Demand. A 24-item Situational Interest Scale was developed and revised during the 4-stage validation process. Cohen's (1988) d (effect size) indicated that the items possess the capability of distinguishing between responses to high interest versus low interest activities. Cronbach's α coefficients (195 1) showed that the data from the instrument had acceptable internal consistency across the 5 dimensions.