Measuring the interests of college students with different major subjects

Abstract

A group of 245 juniors and seniors majoring in English, social science, foreign language, natural science, mathematics and educational administration-supervision were equated as to "intelligence" on the basis of the Miller analogies test, the Minnesota reading examination, and the Peterson equation completion test. The Minnesota interest blank, adapted to measuring scholastic interests and social-mechanical interests, given to this group, revealed marked differences in interest scores between the "science-mathematics" and the "social-language" groups. Interest scales were developed for each major subject. The natural science interest scale was found to be most differentiating from other subject major groups. Correlations between interest scores and honor points in major subjects were found to be low. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)