CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 22, 436–456 (1997)

ARTICLE NO. EP970944

Situational Interest in Literary Text

Gregory Schraw
Department of Educational Psychology, The University of Nebraska—Lincoln
This study examined relationships among text characteristics, situational interest, two
measures of text understanding, and personal responses when reading a literary text.
A factor analysis of ratings made after reading revealed six interrelated text characteris-
tics. Of these, suspense, coherence and thematic complexity explained 54% of the
variance in interest. Additional analyses found that situational interest was unrelated
to a multiple choice test of main ideas; but was related to personal responses and
holistic interpretations of the text. These results suggest that multiple aspects of literary
texts are interesting to readers, and that interest is related to personal engagement
variables, even when it is not related to the comprehension of main ideas. q 1997
Academic Press

Much of our most pleasurable reading occurs with narrative texts. Typical
of this class are literary texts, by which I mean narratives that are richly
symbolic and include both an interpretable surface meaning and one or more
coherent subtexts (i.e., implicit thematic interpretations that run parallel to
the explicit surface-level meaning of the text). Examples include folk and
fairy tales, children’s stories, and many short stories and novels.
This study has three goals. The first is to examine what qualities of a highly
interpretative literary text are related to postreading situational interest. I
predict that multiple text characteristics such as coherence and informational
completeness will be related to situational interest. This prediction is consis-
tent with Schraw, Bruning, and Svoboda (1995) who reported that each of
these characteristics were related to situational interest in an expository text.
The second goal is to examine whether interest is related to different measures
of text understanding and personal response. I predict that interest will be
related to personal responses and to the sophistication of one’s interpretation,
but not to recognition test performance of main ideas. This prediction is
consistent with the assumption that interest is related to increased affective
responses and engagement with a text (Iran-Nejad, 1987; Schiefele, 1992).
The third goal is to extend previous research by examining whether compre-
hension of main ideas is related to a holistic interpretation of a text. I predict
that there will not be a relationship between these variables.
These questions contribute to the interest literature in several ways. One
is to examine which characteristics of a literary text are related to situational

The author thanks Ulrich Schiefele for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
436
0361-476X/97 $25.00
Copyright q 1997 by Academic Press
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 437

interest. A second contribution is to examine the relationship between situa-

tional interest and different kinds of text processing. A third contribution is
to provide an exploratory test of the relationship between personal responses
and text interpretation when reading a literary text.
COMPONENTS OF INTEREST
Researchers studying interest distinguish between personal and situational
interest. Krapp, Hidi, and Renninger (1992, p. 6) state that ‘‘personal interests
are considered to be relatively stable and are usually associated with increased
knowledge, positive emotions, and increased reference values. Situational
interests, on the other hand, are generated by certain stimulus characteristics
(e.g., life themes, novelty) and tend to be shared among individuals.’’ A
number of studies indicate that personal interest is related to prior knowledge
and intrinsic motivation (Deci, 1992; Tobias, 1994), whereas situational inter-
est is evoked spontaneously by either reader goals or properties of the text
(Hidi & Anderson, 1992; Krapp et al., 1992; Schraw & Dennison, 1994;
Wade, Schraw, Buxton, & Hays, 1993).
Previous research indicates that a variety of text characteristics are related
to personal interest. These include the unexpectedness of main events (Iran-
Nejad, 1987) or isolated segments (Garner, Brown, Sanders, & Menke, 1992),
the inclusion of emotionally charged or provocative information (Goetz et al.,
1992; Kintsch, 1980; Schank, 1979), text coherence (Wade, 1992), character
identification (Anderson, Shirey, Wilson, & Fielding, 1987), suspense (Jose &
Brewer, 1984), the degree to which text information engages the reader
(Mitchell, 1993), the relevance of information to the reader’s goals (Schraw &
Dennison, 1994; Shirey, 1992), and the concreteness and imageability of
salient text segments (Sadoski, Goetz, & Fritz, 1993). I expected the same
variables to be related to situational interest.
To operationalize these variables, I adopted the multicomponent model of
situational interest developed by Schraw, Bruning, and Svoboda (1995), who
identified six text characteristics that included coherence, ease of comprehen-
sion, engagement, vividness, background knowledge, and emotiveness. Ease
of comprehension and vividness were related to a postreading measure of
situational interest and recall for an expository text, though only the ease of
comprehension variable was related to recall once the variation due to interest
was controlled.
The present study used modified versions of the Sources of Interest (SIQ)
and Perceived Interest Questionnaires (PIQ) developed by Schraw et al.
(1995). Individuals first read an 870-word literary text, then completed the SIQ
and PIQ. The former measured six text characteristics, including coherence,
information completeness, topic familiarity, suspense, thematic complexity,
and vividness (see the Method section for a more detailed description). The
latter provided a general measure of situational interest in the content and

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438 GREGORY SCHRAW

events described by the text. Individuals then completed a 20-item multiple

choice test that assessed recognition of main ideas presented in the story.
They then wrote a two-page response that was used to the examine the type
and number of personal reactions made during reading and the degree to
which they constructed a meaningful text interpretation (see Method section
for a further description). These variables were used to examine the relation-
ships among text characteristics, situational interest, text comprehension, and
personal reactions.
PREDICTIONS OF THE PRESENT STUDY
Three research questions were of special importance. The first question
concerns the degree to which the six text characteristics described above are
related to situational interest. I made two predictions about this question based
on several previous findings (Iran-Nejad, 1987; Jose & Brewer, 1984; Schraw
et al., 1995). One is that each of the six text characteristics would be mutually
correlated. Specifically, Schraw et al., 1995) found that most intercorrelations
were in the r Å .40 range. I expected to replicate this finding in the present
study. My second prediction is that the coherence, thematic complexity, and
suspense variables would explain a moderate, though statistically significant,
proportion of variance in situational interest. This prediction is based on a
variety of findings indicating that coherence (Hidi, 1990; Wade, 1992), text
complexity (Mitchell, 1993), vividness (Sadoski et al., 1993), and engagement
variables (Krapp et al., 1992; Mitchell, 1993) are related to situational interest
in a text. This pattern of results would also parallel those reported by Schraw
et al. (1995).
The second research question concerns the degree to which situational
interest is related to recognition test performance, a written text interpretation,
and personal reactions to the text. I did not expect situational interest to be
related to recognition test performance. The rationale for this prediction is that
the main ideas included in a narrative text should be constructed automatically
regardless of interest (Schiefele, 1992). In contrast, I expected situational
interest to be related to personal responses and text interpretations. One reason
is that personal responses and more effortful and less likely to occur spontane-
ously than the construction of main ideas (Zwann, 1993). Previous research
indicates that higher levels of interest are related to a variety of emotional
responses (Hidi & Anderson, 1992; Jose & Brewer, 1984; Wade, 1992).
Schiefele (1996) also found that higher levels of personal interest are related
to personal reactions while reading a text. In the present study, I identified
five types of emotional responses that included reader engagement, affective
responses, thought provoking responses, empathy and perspective taking, and
relating text events to personal experiences. I expected situational interest to
be related positively to each of these.
I also measured each reader’s holistic interpretation of the text using a 6-

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 439

point scale described in the Method section. I expected higher levels of interest
to be related positively to more sophisticated interpretations. Although there
have been no studies examining the relationship between situational interest
and the construction of holistic interpretations, a number of theorists have
postulated that such a relationship exists (Graesser et al., 1994; Hidi, 1990;
Schiefele, 1992). Schiefele (1992), for example, proposed that higher interest
increases elaborative processing which, in turn, leads to the construction of
richer situation models (i.e., a mental model of the story’s events). However,
in an experiment with high school seniors, Schiefele (1996) found that per-
sonal interest was related to propositional representation, but not situational
representation.
The third research question concerns the relationship between the compre-
hension of main ideas and personal responses and holistic interpretations. I
predict that multiple choice recognition performance will not be related to
personal responses or the sophistication of one’s holistic interpretation. This
suggests that one can understand what van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) refer to
as the textbase without necessarily understanding the text at a more interpreta-
tive level, or responding to it in a more personalized manner. The assumption
that textbase comprehension and holistic interpretation may be unrelated is
consistent with a number of previous empirical findings (Graesser, Singer, &
Trabasso, 1994; Morrow, Bower, & Greenspan, 1990; van Dijk & Kintsch,
1983; Zwann, 1994).
In summary, this study extends the work of Schraw et al. (1995) using a
narrative text that is open to a variety of interpretations. I expected multiple
text characteristics to be related to situational interest. In addition, I expected
situational interest to be related positively to personal responses and the
construction of a holistic interpretations, but to be unrelated to performance
on a multiple choice test of main ideas. Comprehension of main ideas was not
expected to be related to either personal responses or holistic interpretations,
suggesting these two types of text processing are relatively independent.
METHOD
Participants. One hundred eighty-one undergraduates from a large midwestern university
participated as part of their regular course assignment. All of the participants currently were
enrolled in sections of an introductory educational psychology class.
Materials. The target materials consisted of (a) the sources of interest questionnaire (SIQ),
(b) the perceived interest questionnaire (PIQ), (c) an 870-word story entitled The Book of Sand,
(d) a 20-item multiple choice recognition test covering main ideas included in the story, and (e)
a response booklet in which each participant wrote a two-page reaction to the text. The SIQ
consisted of a 40-item questionnaire modeled after Schraw et al. (1995) in which individuals
indicated on a 5-point Likert scale the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with each
statement about the text (see Appendix A). The purpose of this instrument was to identify text
characteristics such as coherence and complexity that could be used in further analyses. The
hypothesized coherence dimension included statements pertaining to the text’s organization and
clarity (e.g., Events in the story flowed smoothly). The information completeness dimension

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440 GREGORY SCHRAW

addressed whether the story provided the reader with enough information to fully understand
the text (e.g., The story presented all the important information the reader need to reach a
conclusion). The topic familiarity dimension measured the degree to which the reader was familiar
with the story’s content prior to reading (e.g., The story discussed a topic I have read about
before). The suspense dimension measured the degree to which the text was suspenseful and
captivating (e.g., The story was suspenseful). The thematic complexity dimension assessed
whether the text contained multiple meanings and interpretations (e.g., The story had several
possible interpretations). The vividness dimension addressed the degree to which the text con-
tained exciting and vivid details (e.g., The story described people, objects, and events in a highly
memorable way).
The PIQ contained 10 statements (e.g., I thought the story was very interesting, I would read
this story again if I had the chance) that were expected to yield a single interest factor. Ratings
were made on the same 5-point Likert scale used for the SIQ. The PIQ differed from the SIQ
in that the former focused exclusively on the reader’s assessment of his or her own feelings of
interest, whereas the latter focused exclusively on assessments of the text’s content and structure.
The text consisted of an 870-word narrative story entitled The book of sand by Jorge Luis
Borges (1977). While the story contained an easy to follow surface plot, it also contained a
number of richly symbolic interpretations beyond its explicit storyline (see Appendix C). This
story was selected because it was brief yet compelling, invited a number of parallel interpretations
beyond its surface meaning, contained a great deal of imagery, and evoked a feeling of mystery
and moral ambiguity that was likely to elicit a wide variety of interpretative responses.
The recognition test included 20 four-option multiple choice questions addressing both factual
and inferential main ideas from the story. The 20 items used on this test were selected from a
pool of 35 items that were normed with 15 additional participants. All final test items were
answered correctly by no more than 90 percent or less than 50% of test takers. The overall
success rate on the test was roughly 75%. Coefficient a for the test was .83.
Written responses were completed after the recognition test. Individuals were given brief
instructions asking them to describe what they thought the story meant and what kind of personal
thoughts and feelings it evoked in them (see Appendix D). Responses were grouped into two
main categories—interpretations and personal responses. Nine subcategories (four under interpre-
tations, five under personal responses) were identified based in part on a content analysis of
randomly selected protocols (Weber, 1985) and similar categories proposed by Many and Wise-
man (1992). The interpretations category included retellings, elaborations, interpretation of sym-
bols, and thematic inferences. The personal responses category included statements pertaining
to reader engagement, affective responses, thought provoking aspects of the text, empathy with
text characters and events, and relating experiences described in the text to one’s own life.
Appendix E provides a description of each of these subcategories.
Each written protocol was scored by the author and a trained graduate assistant. These protocols
served several different purposes. One purpose of the written protocols was to tabulate the
number of interpretative statements made about the text. These were summarized into four
categories that included text retellings, elaborations, interpretation of symbols, and thematic
inferences (see Appendix E). Initial agreement between the author and trained graduate assistant
was approximately 96 percent. All disputes were settled in conference. Approximately one percent
of statements were eliminated during scoring due to lack of agreement between the judges.
A second purpose of the written protocols was to tabulate the number of personal responses
made to the text. These were summarized into five categories that included statements pertaining
to reader engagement, affective responses, thought provoking aspects of the text, empathy with
text events and characters, and relating experiences described in the text to one’s own life (see
Appendix E). Initial agreement between the author and trained graduate assistant was 93%. All
disputes were settled in conference. Approximately 1% of statements were eliminated during
scoring due to lack of agreement between the judges.

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 441

A third purpose of the protocols was to measure the degree to which readers spontaneously
constructed a holistic interpretation of the text. Each protocol was assigned to one of six levels
of increasing sophistication. Level 1 consisted of protocols that included noninterpretive personal
reactions without clarification of symbols or main themes. A typical statement included in such
protocols was ‘‘I don’t think the author has one certain idea or concept he is trying to convey.’’
Level 2 included an explicit interpretation of prominent symbols without mention of interpretive
themes (e.g., ‘‘It seemed to me that the book represented life’’). Level 3 included isolated
thematic interpretations of events or episodes without interrelating them into a coherent thematic
model (e.g., ‘‘I suppose the author is saying we’re better off when we don’t know what we’re
missing’’). Level 4 included a holistic interpretation that integrated two or more main themes
(e.g., ‘‘The story portrayed the idea of greed and power to keep something unique. It’s really a
story about spiritual gluttony. It’s about the seventh deadly sin. It warns us against our own base
natures’’). Level 5 consisted of either a comprehensive interpretation of the text or comparison
of multiple interpretations (e.g., ‘‘I think the book provides a parallel to life. It is like life because
it’s confusing and haunting, but I believe it is more. Like God, the book neither begins or ends.
But it could also represent death which also is eternal. Like death, the book engulfs those it
comes into contact with’’). Level 6 consisted of an elaborated interpretation that was related to
the respondent’s personal experiences or other texts (e.g., ‘‘The book is a symbol of eternity,
and the story is about the man’s temptation. It made me think how once we lose something, we
can’t get it back. The story made me feel incomplete and very small because I have been in this
situation. Though the book will live forever, each of us will die. The moral of the story is to
treasure what we have without being possessed by it. We can overcome temptation if we try’’).
Holistic interpretations received a score from one to six using the definitions provided above
and several illustrative examples. Judges agreed on 85% of protocols during the initial phase of
scoring. All disputes were settled in conference. The proportion of protocols falling into each
of the six levels was as follows: Level 1 Å 55%; Level 2 Å 16%; Level 3 Å 19%; Level 4 Å
4%; Level 5 Å 3%; and Level 6 Å 3%. As these figures indicate, only 10% of the sample
spontaneously generated a well articulated interpretation. I attribute this to the fact that many
students are not accustomed to reading highly symbolic literary texts that require a high degree
of interpretation. Having additional time to reflect on the story, or to discuss it with others, no
doubt would increase the proportion of higher-level interpretations.
Procedure. Individuals participated in groups of 10 to 25 and received identical instructions.
All sessions were conducted by a trained graduate student. There were no time limits on any of
the experimental tasks.
Participants were told they would be reading a text in order to evaluate various aspects of its
organization and structure. Each individual received a typed, double-spaced copy of the story
and was asked to read it as carefully as possible. Individuals also were informed they could
reread the text and mark or underline their copy if they chose to. There were no time limits
during this phase. The approximate completion time of this stage was 10 min.
Following this phase, individuals were given the SIQ and asked to complete it as carefully as
possible. Instructions for completing the SIQ were included on its front cover. Next, individuals
completed the PIQ. There were no time limits on either of these tasks. The approximate comple-
tion time for both instruments was 10 min.
Individuals were asked next to complete the 20-item recognition tests without looking back
at the story. The average completion time was approximately 10 min. This test was followed by
the written response. Each response booklet contained cover instructions (see Appendix D) and
two sheaves of lined paper. The average completion time for this phase of the study was
approximately 30 min. Following this phase, all participants were debriefed.
All participants completed the experimental tasks in the same order. Materials were not
counterbalanced owing to the logical order in which tasks needed to be completed. For example,
the SIQ was given immediately after reading to identify salient text characteristics before readers

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442 GREGORY SCHRAW

rated their own situational interest using the PIQ. The multiple choice test was completed next
for two reasons. One was that completing the essay may give participants a chance to rehearse
and elaborate text information. Second, by administering the multiple choice test first, participants
were allowed to refer back to the text when completing their essays, without confounding multiple
choice test results. Because all participants completed the multiple choice test under the same
conditions, there is no reason to believe it differentially affected essay performance.

RESULTS
Five separate analyses were performed. The first examined the factor struc-
ture and internal consistency of the SIQ and PIQ. The second investigated
the relationship between these two instruments using hierarchical multiple
regression. The third considered the relationship between the PIQ and recogni-
tion test performance. The fourth examined the relationship between the PIQ
and holistic interpretations. The final analysis examined the relationship be-
tween the PIQ and written responses. All correlations were tested using two-
tailed tests.
Factor Analyses of the SIQ and PIQ
The SIQ was analyzed using principal factor analysis with a varimax rota-
tion. Six factors were extracted, which accounted for 70% of the sample
variation in the instrument. The factors in order of variance explained were:
text coherence (eigenvalue Å 2.68, variance explained Å 15%), vividness
(2.35, 13%), thematic complexity (2.31, 13%), topic familiarity (1.76, 10%),
informational completeness (1.72, 10%), and suspense (1.64, 9%). Factor
loadings for individual variables are given in Appendix A. The internal consis-
tencies of each of the factors using Cronbach’s as were .81, .71, .78, .72,
.66, and .69, respectively.
The text coherence factor was characterized by statements addressing the
clarity, flow, and organization of the story’s contents. The vividness factor
included statements pertaining to the inclusion of imageable and memorable
descriptions. Thematic complexity assessed the degree to which the story
contained multiple interpretations, but especially those judged to be below
the surface text. The topic familiarity factor assessed the degree to which
reader were familiar with the story’s topic or had read similar stories. Informa-
tional completeness measured whether the story’s informational content was
sufficient. The suspense factor addressed the extent to which the story was
suspenseful and evoked a feeling of mystery. These factors were consistent
with the six factors reported by Schraw et al. (1995) with two exceptions;
Schraw et al.’s ease of comprehension and emotiveness factors were replaced
with the thematic complexity and suspense factors described above. These
differences can be attributed to changes made in the SIQ to meet the specific
goals of the present study.
Table 1 shows the correlations among each of these factors. Several of
these correlations exceed the traditional cutoff value of .30, indicating that

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 TABLE 1

ab07$$0944
CORRELATIONS AMONG VARIABLES USED IN THE EXPERIMENT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

1. Coherence —
2. Vividness .33 —
3. Thematic complexity .24 .34 —
4. Topic familiarity .11 .06 .24 —
5. Info. completeness .44 .42 .33 .33 —

09-29-97 14:25:43
6. Suspense .40 .32 .30 0.15 .07 —
7. Situational interest .58 .40 .46 .05 .31 .58 —
8. Recognition test 0.09 0.10 0.04 .06 0.12 .06 0.04 —

cepa
9. Holistic interpretation .21 .12 .29 .02 .22 .18 .33 .04 —
10. Retellings .00 0.04 .03 0.06 0.08 0.05 .02 0.26 .16 —
11. Elaborations .20 .14 .09 .13 .15 .21 .19 0.16 .35 .17 —
12. Symbols .16 .19 .18 .05 .13 .16 .32 0.08 .58 .06 .28 —
SITUATIONAL INTEREST

13. Thematic inferences .26 .13 .30 .03 .27 .19 .30 0.13 .88 .10 .28 .51 —

AP: CEP
14. Engagement .18 .11 .01 0.04 0.09 .28 .25 .10 0.14 .08 .05 0.16 0.17 —
15. Affective responses .12 .04 .11 .06 0.13 .12 .27 .17 .04 .01 .13 .10 0.05 .13 —
16. Thought provoking 0.02 .00 .09 0.07 0.19 .11 .17 .03 .06 0.04 0.04 .10 .04 .15 .31 —
17. Empathy .00 .02 0.05 0.02 .04 .09 .11 .04 .15 .05 .11 0.03 .08 .08 .17 .00 —
18. Personal experiences .18 .18 .23 .03 .13 .17 .25 .00 .36 .02 .11 .01 .26 .12 .22 .10 .26 —

Note. Correlations greater than .15 in absolute value are significant at the p õ .05 level. Correlations greater than .19 are significant at the p õ .01
level. N Å 181.
443
444 GREGORY SCHRAW

some text characteristics were intercorrelated to a significant degree. Foremost

among these pairwise relationships were text coherence and informational
completeness (r Å .44), coherence and suspense (r Å .40), and vividness and
informational completeness (r Å .42). These correlations are important from
an interpretive sense since two factors may explain the same variation in a
third variable such as multiple choice test performance.
A separate principal factor analysis was performed on the PIQ using a
varimax rotation. This analysis yielded a single factor with an eigenvalue of
5.44 that accounted for 81% of the total sample variation. Factor loadings
for each of the 10 statements included in the PIQ are given in Appendix B.
The internal consistency of the PIQ using Cronbach’s a reached .92.
The Relationship between Text Characteristics and Situational Interest
Composite scores were created for each of the six SIQ factors using the
same criteria as Schraw et al. (1995). This strategy was used to facilitate
comparisons with that study. All items with a significant loading on each
factor (i.e., r ú .30) were summed together. For example, seven items were
included on the coherence factor which meant that scores ranged from zero
to 35. Items that did not load meaningfully on any of the six factors were
excluded. Means and standard deviations for the six text characteristics are
shown in Table 2.
The six composite SIQ scores were entered into a hierarchical multiple
regression equation to determine which of the six text characteristics were
most highly related to the composite PIQ score which ranged from 0 to 50.
Order of entry was left free to vary. In this and subsequent regression analyses,
F tests were made for the change in R2 (i.e., the unique variance added by a
new variable in the regression equation) using the methods described by
Tabachnick and Fidell (1983, pp. 111–112).
Suspense entered the equation first, R2 Å .337, F(1,173) Å 94.85, MSe Å
34.72, p õ .001, followed by coherence, R2 Å .477 (R2change Å .139),
F(1,173) Å 49.52, MSe Å 27.53, p õ .001, and thematic complexity, R2 Å
.536 (R2change Å .058), F(1,173) Å 23.11, MSe Å 24.60, p õ .001. In
addition, a second regression analysis was performed in which all possible
pairwise interactions were included in the equation following the three sig-
nificant variables described above. The results of this analysis were identical
to the one reported above. Thus, none of the interactions explained additional
variation in situational interest over and above the main effects of suspense,
coherence, and thematic complexity.
This analysis indicated that suspense, coherence, and thematic complexity
accounted for approximately 54% of the variance in situational interest. Sus-
pense made the single greatest contribution, explaining roughly 34% of varia-
tion. This finding was consistent with Schank’s (1979) prediction that provoc-
ative information that increases suspense and intrigue, in turn, increases inter-

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 445

TABLE 2
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR ALL VARIABLES

Mean SD

Text characteristics
Coherence 26.70 3.44
Vividness 10.28 2.36
Thematic complexity 17.97 3.09
Prior knowledge 8.90 2.76
Informational completeness 9.16 2.47
Suspense 10.90 2.09
Situational interest 33.51 7.25
Recognition test 15.21 2.66
Holistic interpretation 2.01 1.14
Interpretive statements
Retellings .44 1.02
Elaborations 2.29 1.99
Symbols .52 .98
Thematic inferences 1.02 1.50
Personal responses
Engagement 1.28 1.17
Affective responses 1.15 1.16
Thought provoking .71 .89
Empathy .45 .75
Personal experiences .83 1.14

Note. N Å 181.

est. The finding that both the coherence and thematic complexity variables
explained additional variance replicated Schraw et al. (1995) who reported
that coherence and ease of comprehension explained roughly 40% of the
variation in interest after reading a technical expository text. However, Schraw
et al. (1995) did not include a suspense factor in their analysis, which may
have increased the relative contribution of coherence and ease of comprehen-
sion in their study.
In contrast, the topic familiarity, vividness, and informational completeness
factors did not explain any variation in situational interest even though they
explained a meaningful proportion of variance in the SIQ. The fact that
vividness and informational completeness failed to explain unique variation
can be explained by the fact that they covary with significant predictors
already in the regression equation. This was not the case with the topic
familiarity factor, which was uncorrelated with either suspense or coherence.
Thus, it appears that topic familiarity played little role in situational interest
in this particular story. This finding replicated Schraw et al. (1995) who found
that topic familiarity was unrelated to interest in an expository text. It is

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446 GREGORY SCHRAW

important to note, however, that the present study used a story that did not
require a specific body of prior knowledge, or familiarity with the main topic
of the story. It is entirely possible that topic familiarity may play an important
role in interest using different texts (Schiefele, 1996).

The Relationship between Situational Interest and Recognition Test

Performance
The six factors extracted from the SIQ and the single PIQ factor were
regressed on recognition test performance in both simultaneous and hierarchi-
cal analyses. None of the variables in either of these analyses reached signifi-
cance (see Table 1 for correlations). This finding was expected given that the
present sample consisted of college readers who presumably constructed main
ideas in an automatic manner. However, it is important to note that the present
study used a recognition test rather than a measure of recall. A number of
previous studies have found that higher levels of situational interest are related
to better recall (Wade & Adams, 1990; Wade et al., 1993).

The Relationship between Situational Interest and Holistic Interpretations

In the present study, the literal meaning of The book of sand was easy for
college readers to understand. This may be one reason why neither the SIQ
or PIQ are related to recognition test performance. In contrast, I expected
situational interest to be related significantly to holistic interpretations. The
correlations in Table 1 indicate that suspense, coherence, thematic complexity,
and situational interest were correlated individually with holistic interpreta-
tions. I performed a hierarchical multiple regression to examine the relative
contribution of each variable in further detail. Thematic complexity R2 Å
.082, F(1,173) Å 16.19, MSe Å 1.56, p õ .001, and coherence, R2 Å .104
(R2change Å .022), F(1,173) Å 4.29, MSe Å 1.53, p õ .05 each explained a
significant proportion of variation in the holistic interpretation score. In a
second hierarchical analysis that included the PIQ score, only thematic com-
plexity, (R2change Å .020), F(1,172) Å 4.17, MSe Å 1.48, p õ .05, explained
a significant proportion of variance once the variation due to situational inter-
est was removed from the equation. These findings suggest that text character-
istics do not play an important role in the construction of holistic interpreta-
tions over and above the effect of situational interest.
The simple correlation between the PIQ and holistic interpretation vari-
ables was r Å .33, r2 Å .11. This correlation also was significant once the
variation due to the six SIQ factors was removed, r Å .18, (r 2change Å
.042), F(1,172) Å 6.55, MSe Å 1.49, p õ .01. This finding reveals that
situational interest explains a modest but significant proportion of variation
in holistic interpretations over and above the effect of text characteristics.
This outcome lends preliminary support to the previously untested claim

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 447

TABLE 3
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR PERSONAL RESPONSE SCORES

Situational interest

Low (n Å 64) Average (n Å 68) High (n Å 49)

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Retellings .39 1.23 .29 .57 .71 1.20

Elaborations 1.95 1.73 2.25 1.93 2.76 2.33
Symbols .31 .64 .31 .74 1.06 1.33
Thematic inferences .70 1.24 .73 1.15 1.78 1.88
Engagement 1.20 1.26 1.75 1.31 1.43 .98
Affective responses 2.00 1.41 2.29 1.74 2.16 1.74
Thought provoking .48 .69 .94 .96 .82 .99
Empathy .58 .96 .77 1.03 .65 .93
Personal experiences .59 .90 1.15 1.22 1.16 1.27

that situational interest is related to richer levels of text interpretation

(Graesser et al., 1994; Wade, 1992).

The Relationship among Situational Interest and Written Responses

Although a number of authors have speculated about the relationship be-
tween situational interest and personal responses to a text (e.g., Rosenblatt,
1994), none that I know of have actually examined the relationships among
these variables empirically. To examine this question in further detail, I cre-
ated three groups on the basis of PIQ scores. Individuals with a PIQ score
lower than one-half standard deviation below the mean were classified as low
interest; those in excess of one-half standard deviation above the mean were
classified as high interest. Means and standard deviations appear in Table 3.
A separate analysis of the four critical response variables (i.e., items 1–4 in
Appendix E) resulted in significant main effects for the level of interest (high,
average, low), F(2,178) Å 12.07, MSe Å 3.02, and type of response (four
critical responses), F(3,534) Å 81.04, MSe Å 1.60, variables. Both were
significant at the p õ .001 level. A post hoc comparison of marginal means
using Fisher’s procedure (Levin, Serlin, & Seaman, 1994) found that the high
interest group generated more elaborations and thematic inferences than either
the average or low interest groups. Two-way interactions were not significant.
An additional analysis using the five personal response variables (i.e., items
5–9 in Appendix E) reported significant main effects for the level of interest,
F(2,178) Å 9.03, MSe Å 1.53, and type of response, F(4,712) Å 48.43, MSe
Å 1.40, variables at the p õ .001 level. Post hoc tests using Fisher’s procedure
found that the high and average interest groups differed from the low interest

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448 GREGORY SCHRAW

group with respect to relating text information to personal experiences, but

did not differ from one another on the remaining four dimensions. Two-way
interactions were not significant.
These findings indicated that higher interest was associated with an increase
in both critical and personal responses, but especially the number of thematic
inferences made during reading and the extent to which readers related events
in the story to their own personal experiences. These results were consistent
with the theories of interest proposed by Kintsch (1980) and Schank (1979),
and empirical findings reported by Anderson et al. (1987), Iran-Nejad (1987),
and Jose and Brewer (1984) which reported a positive relationship between
interest and personal engagement. They also are consistent Schiefele’s (1996)
finding that higher levels of personal interest are related positively to quality
of experience while reading.
DISCUSSION
This study had three goals. The first was to examine what qualities
of a highly interpretative literary text readers found interesting. Results
indicated that literary texts were interesting because they were sus-
penseful, coherent, and thematically rich. These findings were consistent
with a number of previous studies, using a variety of different texts
(Jose & Brewer, 1984; Schraw et al., 1995; Wade et al., 1993). In contrast,
topic familiarity was not related to situational interest, a finding consistent
with other recent studies (Benton, Corkill, Sharp, Downey, & Khramtsova,
1995; Schraw et al., 1995).
A second goal was to examine whether interest is related to different
measures of text understanding and personal response. Interest was not
related to the recognition of main ideas. One possibility is that adult
readers construct main ideas automatically as part of their ordinary reading
of a text, assuming that the text is at an appropriate reading level. This
would explain why situational interest is related in different ways to
different indices of reading comprehension and engagement. This hypoth-
esis could be tested in future studies by introducing a manipulation that
interferes with the automatic construction of main ideas (e.g., asking
individuals to read for grammatical errors).
Situational interest was related to the sophistication of holistic interpre-
tations. As interest increased, interpretations became more sophisticated,
although few readers spontaneously generated highly sophisticated inter-
pretations. The significant relationship between interest and interpreta-
tions remained even when the variation attributable to the six text charac-
teristics was controlled statistically. This tentatively suggested that inter-
est may provide a unique motivational incentive to interpret a text; a
hypothesis that is consistent with a number of previous untested theoreti-
cal claims (Graesser et al., 1994; Schraw et al., 1995; Wade, 1992).

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 449

Interest also was related to written responses, especially thematic inter-

pretations and relating story events and themes to one’s own experiences.
These findings are consistent with the claims of reader response theorists
that interest promotes deeper engagement with a text via constructivist
processes that focus on interpretation and personal reactions (Miall, 1989;
Rosenblatt, 1994; Straw & Bogdan, 1993; Wade, Thompson, & Watkins,
1994). On the other hand, it is important to note that the high and low
interest groups did not differ with respect to four of the personal response
categories (i.e., engagement, affective responses, thought provoking re-
sponses, and empathy). Further research is needed to clarify whether this
lack of differences extends to longer literary texts, or short texts read
under different experimental conditions.
The results of this study closely replicated the work of Schraw et al.
(1995) who found that multiple text characteristics are related to situa-
tional interest and text comprehension in an expository text. Both Schraw
et al. and the present study found that three text characteristics explained
over half of the variation in situational interest. The three factors were
similar in both studies, even though they bore somewhat different names.
These factors included coherence, thematic clarity (i.e., complexity and
ease of comprehension), and engagement (i.e., suspense and vividness).
Tentatively, these findings suggest that literary and nonliterary texts are
situationally interesting for similar reasons, because they are internally
coherent (Hidi, 1990; Wade, 1992), engaging (Garner, 1992), and themati-
cally rich, yet easy to understand (Schank, 1979; Wade et al., 1993).
However, a direct comparison using multiple texts read by the same indi-
viduals is necessary to fully establish this claim.
The results of this study contribute to the interest literature in three
important ways. First, they indicate that readers find literary texts interest-
ing because they are suspenseful, coherent, and thematically complex.
Previous studies have focused primary on only one or two variables.
Results indicate that multiple variables are related to interest; thus, situa-
tional interest may be a composite experience that is affected by many
aspects of the text and reading context. Future research is needed to more
carefully explore the multidimensional nature of interest.
A second contribution is to examine the relationship between situational
interest and different kinds of text processing. The present findings pro-
vide clear evidence that interest is not related to a variety of comprehen-
sion variables in the same way. Constructing a meaningful textbase may
occur automatically beyond the bounds of interest. In contrast, personal
and interpretative reactions to a literary text are related in part to interest,
even when text characteristics are discounted.
A third contribution is to provide an exploratory test of the relationship
between personal responses and holistic interpretations when reading a

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450 GREGORY SCHRAW

literary text. Table 1 reveals that a number of the critical and personal
response variables shown in Appendix E are related to holistic interpreta-
tions. Though exploratory, these findings reveal the need for future re-
search that more carefully explores these relationships, especially the
degree to which personal responses may facilitate the construction of
holistic interpretations.
The present findings should be interpreted cautiously for two reasons.
One is that correlations suggest relationships among variables without
specifying the underlying causal nature of those relationships. For exam-
ple, the present study does not resolve whether text characteristics cause
interest, or the reverse. Nevertheless, they do indicate that some meaning-
ful relationship exists. A second reason is the use of a short text. Using
a longer text might lead to a different outcome between interest and
measures of response and interpretation. Indeed, one might expect a
longer, more complicated text to be more sensitive to the effects of inter-
est. For example, a longer text that places greater demands on memory
may reveal differences on the recognition test that did not occur here.

APPENDIX A
Items Included in the Sources of Interest Questionnaire

Coherence
Events in the story flowed smoothly (.71)
The story was well written (.71)
The information in the story was organized clearly (.65)
The story had a polished style (.45)
The story was easy to concentrate on (.41)
The story was easy to comprehend (.33)
The story was easy to read (.31)
Vividness
The story described people, objects, and events in a highly memorable way (.83)
The story contained a lot of descriptive imagery (.75)
The story contained vivid details (.69)
Thematic Complexity
The story had several possible interpretations (.75)
This story was thought provoking (.60)
The story had a deeper meaning that went beyond the surface words (.49)
The story made the reader do the thinking (.47)
The story made an important point (.45)
Topic Familiarity
The story discussed a topic I had read about before (.83)
The story covered a topic I knew a lot about (.63)
The story contained information I already knew (.36)
The story was like others I have read (.35)

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 451

APPENDIX A—Continued

Informational Completeness
The story presented all the important information the reader needed to reach a conclusion (.77)
The story felt complete (.58)
The story made a lot of sense overall (.54)
Suspense
The story was suspenseful (.83)
The story was mysterious and haunting (.57)
The story grabbed by attention (.35)

Note. Numbers in parentheses are factor loadings.

APPENDIX B
Items Included in the Perceived Interest Questionnaire

I thought the story was very interesting (.77)

I’d like to discuss this story with others at some point (.68)
I would read this story again if I had the chance (.87)
I got caught-up in the story without trying to (.82)
I’ll probably think about the implications of this story for some time to come (.62)
I think most people I know would be interested in this story (.66)
I liked this story a lot (.84)
I would like to read this story again (.84)
The story was one of the most interesting things I’ve read in a long time (.73)
I would like to know more about why the author wrote the story (.51)

Note. Numbers in parentheses are factor loadings.

APPENDIX C
The Book of Sand
I live alone in a fourth-floor apartment on Belgano Street in Buenos Aires.
One day, what seems like an eternity ago, I heard a knock at my door. I
opened it and a stranger stood there. He was a tall, gloomy man with nonde-
script features. He was dressed in gray and carried a gray suitcase. I saw at
once that he was a foreigner. During the course of our conversation, I found
out he was from the Orkneys.
I invited him in, pointing to a chair. He paused awhile before speaking.
‘‘I sell Bibles,’’ he said.
Pointing to my bookcases, which included a number of Bibles, I said, ‘‘As
you can see, I don’t need any more Bibles.’’
After a few moments of silence, he said, ‘‘I don’t only sell Bibles. I can
show you a holy book I acquired in India. It may interest you.’’

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452 GREGORY SCHRAW

He opened his suitcase and laid the book on the table. It was an old book
bound in cloth. There was no doubt it had passed through many hands.
Examining it, I was surprised by its great weight, as if something heavy was
hidden inside.
‘‘Nineteenth century probably,’’ I remarked, while inspecting the cover.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ he said. ‘‘I never found out.’’
I opened the book at random. The script was strange to me. The pages
were laid out in double columns like a Bible. In the upper corners of the
pages were Arabic numbers. The left page in front of me was numbered
40,514 and the right page 999. I turned the leaf; it was numbered 84,385,129.
It also bore a small illustration of an anchor.
It was at this point that the stranger said, ‘‘Look at the illustration closely.
You will never see it again.’’
I noted my place and closed the book. At once, I reopened it. Page after
page, I looked in vain for the illustration, but could not find it.
Then, as if confiding a secret, the stranger leaned toward me and said, ‘‘I
acquired the book for a handful of rupees and a Bible. Its owner did not
know how to read. He told me his book was called the Book of Sand, because
neither the book nor the sand has any beginning or end.’’
The stranger asked me to find the first page. I opened the book, but it was
useless. Each time I tried, a number of pages came between the cover and
my thumb.
‘‘Now find the last page.’’
Again, I tried, but failed. In a voice that was barely mine, I said, ‘‘This
simply cannot be.’’
Still speaking in a low voice, the stranger said, ‘‘It can’t be, but it is. The
number of pages is infinite, with no beginning and no end. Perhaps that is
why the pages are numbered randomly.’’
He continued to speak while I examined the book. Then, with feigned
indifference, I asked, ‘‘Do you intend to offer this curiosity to one of the
museums?’’
‘‘No,’’ he said, ‘‘I’m offering it to you.’’ He stipulated a very high price.
In exchange, I offered him my monthly pension check and a Wyclif Bible,
knowing I could not approach his sum.
‘‘It’s a deal,’’ he said.
It amazed me that he didn’t haggle. Only later did I realize that he had
entered my house with his mind made up to sell the book.
We talked about India and the Orkney Islands for awhile. It was night
before he left. I have not seen him again, nor do I know his name.
I concealed the Book of Sand among my other books as carefully as I
could. I went to bed but could not sleep that night. At three or four in the
morning, I turned on the light. I got down the impossible book and leafed

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 SITUATIONAL INTEREST 453

through it. On one of its pages, I saw an engraved mask, which I never saw
again.
I showed my treasure to no one. To the luck of owning it was added the
great fear of losing it, and the misgiving that it was not infinite. These twin
preoccupations intensified my regular bad temper. I had only a few friends
left and now I stopped seeing them. A prisoner of the book, I almost never
went out. I spent all my hours searching the book. Never once was an illustra-
tion or a page repeated. At night, in the meager intervals my insomnia granted,
I dreamed of the book.
Summer came and went, then autumn, until I realized the book was mon-
strous. I felt the book was a nightmarish object, an obscene thing that mocked
reality. I knew I had to destroy it before it consumed me.
I thought of fire, but feared that burning an infinite book might suffocate
the planet with smoke. Somewhere I remember reading that the best place to
hide a leaf is in the forest. Before retirement, I worked at the Argentine
National Library, which contains over five million volumes. I knew of an
obscure place in the basement hidden by a staircase where maps and periodi-
cals are kept. One day I went there and, certain that I was alone, lost the
Book of Sand on one of the basement’s musty shelves.

APPENDIX D

Instructions for the Written Response

Each time a person reads a story, he or she has some kind of personal
reaction to it. In this part, we want you to describe your personal response
to the story The Book of Sand. First we want you to reread the story. Next
we want you to write a two-page response in which you describe (a) what
you think the story means, (b) what kind of personal thoughts and feelings
the story evoked in you. Don’t worry about whether your response is correct or
not; there are no right and wrong answers. Everything you write is completely
anonymous, so please be candid.

APPENDIX E

Interpretations

1. Retellings: Reiterating information stated in text.

2. Text-based elaborations: Elaboration of information stated in text with-
out thematic interpretation.
3. Interpretation of symbols: Assigning a symbolic meaning to a character
or event in the text.
4. Thematic inferences: Statements pertaining to major themes or purposes
of the text, or to ‘‘deeper’’ meanings.

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454 GREGORY SCHRAW

Personal Responses
5. Engagement: Statements pertaining to interest, liking, or curiosity about
information in the text.
6. Affective responses: Emotional responses to information included in the
text.
7. Thought provoking: Statements pertaining to the text’s ability to evoke
thought, speculation, or analysis.
8. Empathy and perspective taking: Statements indicating the reader has
adopted or understands the author’s or character’s perspective.
9. Relate to personal experiences: Statements relating events or themes in
the text to personal life experiences.

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