Selected variables related to preferred reading interests of students in intermediate grades

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of each of the variables of age, sex, reading -achievement, intelligence, and reading attitude to the preferred reading interests of students in grades four, five, and six.The following information and resources were available for each subject in this study: 1. Age2. Sex3. A reading achievement score4. An intelligence quotient5. A parent consent formThe population of this study consisted of two hundred sixty-nine (269) students in grades four, five, and six from the Muncie Community School Corporation. All students completed the Readinq Interest Survey, and seventy (70) of these students were interviewed utilizing the Reading Interest Student Interview Guide.The Reading Interest Survey consisted of two sections. The first section contained thirty-nine (39) questions describing books in different categories, while the second section consisted of fifteen (15) statements about reading. For the first section the students were asked to select one of the following choices to indicate their feelings about reading a book like each one described: "very much," "some," "little," or "not at all." For the second section the students were asked to select one of the following choices to indicate their feelings about each statement concerning reading: "strongly agree," "agree," "undecided," "disagree," or "strongly disagree."The Reading Interest Student Interview Guide was designed to cover the same areas of interest included in the Readinq Interest Survey. Also, other types of questions were included to find out more about students' attitudes toward reading. An attempt was made to put the students at ease through discussion of their general interests at the beginning of the interview sessions. They were told there were no right or wrong answers but that their judgments were needed. As the students responded, their comments were recorded so important information could be retained.At the conclusion of the study, the data collected from the Reading Interest Survey were examined. Analysis of variance was used to test the data. Pertinent information gathered from student interviews was reported.The identification of variables indicating the preferred reading interests in the two subsets of books about people and books about science used in the Reading Interest Survey is reviewed as follows:1. For books about people the most interest was shown by boys, age twelve; students with above average intelligence quotients, high reading achievement scores, and average reading attitude scores.2. For books about science the most interest was shown by girls, age twelve; students with above average intelligence quotients, high reading achievement scores, and average reading attitude scores.3. For books about people the least interest was shown by girls, age nine; students with below average intelligence quotients, low reading achievement scores, and fair reading attitude scores.4. For books about science the least interest was shown by boys, age thirteen; students with below average intelligence quotients, low reading achievement scores, and fair reading attitude scores.The variables ranked according to the degree of relationship to the preferred reading interests of the students are indicated below with the first variable indicating the most relationship and the last representing the least:1. Sex2. Age3. Intelligence4. Reading attitude5. Reading achievementIn the interviews most students reported having read books within the week and having a variety of reading interests including books about adventure, animals, people, sports, humor and science.Thesis (D. Ed.