Text Material Questionnaire I

1. Abstract

The Text Material Questionnaire I (TMQ-I) is a multidimensional psychometric instrument adapted from the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) to assess learners’ subjective, task-specific psychological experiences during or immediately following reading academic or expository texts. Comprising 9 items evaluated on a 7-point Likert-type response format ranging from 1 (not at all true) through 4 (somewhat true) to 7 (very true), the TMQ-I measures three critical post-task phenomenological dimensions: Interest/Enjoyment, Perceived Competence (comprehension self-efficacy), and Pressure/Tension (reading-related anxiety). Developed primarily under the conceptual stewardship of Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan, and their educational psychology research collaborators, the scale provides an ecologically valid, brief, and unobtrusive measurement of intrinsic motivation within educational, cognitive, and reading psychology experiments. Psychometric investigations demonstrate robust internal consistency across its constituent subscales, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients typically ranging from .78 to .89 for Interest/Enjoyment, .74 to .82 for Perceived Competence, and .70 to .80 for Pressure/Tension. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses corroborate the hypothesized three-factor structural model, exhibiting favorable fit indices (comparative fit index > .95, root mean square error of approximation < .06). The TMQ-I displays robust convergent validity with measures of deep-level cognitive processing, textual recall, reading persistence, and autonomous self-regulation, as well as discriminant validity against general reading ability and trait-level neuroticism. This article provides a comprehensive academic analysis of the TMQ-I, detailing its theoretical foundation, psychometric parameters, structural validity, administrative procedures, and full operational items.

2. Keywords

Text Material Questionnaire, Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, Self-Determination Theory, reading engagement, interest and enjoyment, perceived competence, pressure and tension, task-specific motivation, educational psychometrics, reading comprehension.

3. Authors

The Text Material Questionnaire I was developed as a task-specific adaptation of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) by researchers aligned with the Human Motivation Program at the University of Rochester, notably spearheaded by Edward L. Deci, Ph.D., and Richard M. Ryan, Ph.D., alongside collaborators exploring reading comprehension and educational self-regulation (e.g., Deci, Hodges, Pierson, & Tomassone; Ryan, Connell, & Plant). In laboratory and classroom investigations into how autonomy-supportive versus controlling textual instructions modulate reading quality, researchers operationalized reading engagement using contextualized variants of the IMI, yielding the standardized 9-item TMQ-I.

Correspondence regarding the foundational theoretical framework and the general Intrinsic Motivation Inventory is historically directed to the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA, or via the Center for Self-Determination Theory (selfdeterminationtheory.org).

4. Purpose

The foundational purpose of the Text Material Questionnaire I is to evaluate an individual’s subjective phenomenological state immediately following the reading of a designated passage, chapter, or instructional text. In both cognitive psychology and educational research, reading has frequently been evaluated purely through behavioral or objective cognitive metrics, such as reading speed, eye-tracking fixations, verbatim recall protocols, and standardized comprehension tests. However, Cognitive Evaluation Theory—a sub-theory within Self-Determination Theory—posits that objective performance outcomes are intimately moderated by the reader’s experiential state, specifically whether reading is experienced as an intrinsically motivating, autonomy-supportive pursuit or as an externally pressured, anxiety-inducing requirement.

The TMQ-I serves three central empirical and diagnostic purposes:

• Quantifying Task-Specific Intrinsic Motivation: Unlike trait questionnaires measuring general reading habits or broad academic motivation, the TMQ-I evaluates the proximal, real-time phenomenological response to a specific textual stimulus. It isolates whether the material captured the learner’s attention, elicited genuine intellectual pleasure, or was perceived as monotonous and dull.
• Investigating the Mechanics of Textual Comprehension: Educational psychology demonstrates that intrinsic interest facilitates deep-level conceptual processing, thematic integration, and long-term retention, whereas external pressure facilitates superficial, rote memorization. The TMQ-I provides researchers with the precise mediating indices necessary to examine how instructional interventions, text difficulty, typography, narrative framing, or gamification affect psychological engagement and cognitive mastery.
• Monitoring Affective and Evaluative Reading Anxiety: By embedding items targeting felt nervousness and tension during the reading episode, the TMQ-I enables clinicians and educators to detect situations where reading tasks elicit cognitive interference or threat-related arousal, which can impair working memory and undermine reading self-efficacy.

Applied settings for the TMQ-I include laboratory experiments manipulating textual features (e.g., readability, narrative perspective, digital versus print medium), classroom evaluations of curriculum materials, developmental research on emergent adolescent readers, and clinical interventions addressing reading avoidance, dyslexia-associated anxiety, and learning disengagement.

5. Psychological Construct

The TMQ-I measures a triad of interrelated yet distinct psychological constructs that collectively characterize the subjective experience of intrinsic reading motivation:

5.1. Interest / Enjoyment

Interest/Enjoyment is recognized within Self-Determination Theory as the primary phenomenological manifestation of intrinsic motivation. When individuals operate intrinsically, their engagement is sustained by the spontaneous feelings of curiosity, absorption, and positive affect inherent in the activity itself. In the TMQ-I, this construct is captured by five items assessing whether the text was experienced as fun, intellectually engaging, attention-capturing, and enjoyable (e.g., Item 1: “While I was reading this material, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it”; Item 5: “I would describe this material as very interesting”; Item 7: “I enjoyed reading this material very much”; Item 9: “This material was fun to read”), alongside one negatively keyed item measuring attentional failure (Item 3: “This material did not hold my attention at all”). High scores signify that the text elicited autotelic involvement and deep curiosity, whereas low scores reflect boredom and cognitive disengagement.

5.2. Perceived Competence (Comprehension Self-Efficacy)

Perceived Competence denotes the reader’s subjective evaluation of their capability to successfully process, understand, and master the informational content of the text. Grounded in White’s effectance motivation and Bandura’s self-efficacy frameworks, SDT conceptualizes perceived competence as a fundamental psychological need required for intrinsic motivation to thrive. In the TMQ-I, this dimension encompasses both internal mastery appraisals (Item 4: “I think I understood this material pretty well”) and normative social comparisons (Item 6: “I think I understood this material very well, compared to other students”). When readers perceive themselves as effective at deciphering the textual structure and grasping its core concepts, their sense of effectance increases, reinforcing ongoing cognitive effort.

5.3. Pressure / Tension

Pressure/Tension evaluates the presence of negative affective arousal, evaluative apprehension, and strain experienced during the reading episode. Theoretically conceived as a negative predictor of intrinsic motivation, heightened pressure typically signals that the reading situation was experienced as controlling, evaluative, or cognitively overwhelming. The construct is indexed through Item 8 (“I felt very tense while reading this material”) and the reverse-scored Item 2 (“I did not feel at all nervous while reading”). Elevated pressure/tension scores indicate performance anxiety, fear of failure, or high cognitive load, conditions known to constrict working memory capacity and foster reading fatigue.

6. Theoretical Framework

The TMQ-I is theoretically anchored in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), particularly Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), formulated by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. CET specifies the socio-contextual factors that either facilitate or undermine intrinsic motivation, arguing that intrinsic engagement is sustained exclusively when human beings experience satisfaction of the fundamental psychological needs for autonomy and competence, in an environment characterized by low threat and pressure.

According to CET, events such as rewards, deadlines, surveillance, and controlling evaluations induce an external perceived locus of causality (PLOC), shifting the individual’s focus from the internal delight of reading to external contingencies. When reading is perceived as an autonomous exploration, feelings of interest and enjoyment increase, stimulating deep conceptual learning. Conversely, when readers are subjected to high-stakes demands or rigid performance monitoring, their autonomic nervous system registers threat, producing felt tension and nervousness. This shift undermines both the affective enjoyment of reading and the cognitive architecture necessary for synthesizing complex textual information.

Furthermore, the TMQ-I integrates insights from Cognitive Load Theory and theories of reader response. When textual material is structured in a coherent, accessible, and evocative manner, it minimizes extraneous cognitive load, freeing working memory resources for schema acquisition. This optimization translates directly into heightened perceived competence (comprehension success) and diminished pressure/tension, allowing the intrinsically motivating properties of interest and enjoyment to emerge.

7. Validity

The psychometric validity of the TMQ-I has been established through empirical investigations across educational, developmental, and cognitive psychology laboratories:

7.1. Construct and Structural Validity

Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) conducted across diverse cohorts of high school and university students consistently confirm a three-dimensional construct structure. The three latent factors—Interest/Enjoyment, Perceived Competence, and Pressure/Tension—demonstrate distinct factorial integrity. Inter-factor correlations align with theoretical predictions: Interest/Enjoyment correlates positively and strongly with Perceived Competence ($r = .52$ to $.68, p < .001$) and negatively with Pressure/Tension ($r = -.36$ to $-.48, p < .001$). Perceived Competence similarly displays an inverse relationship with Pressure/Tension ($r = -.41$ to $-.54, p < .001$).

7.2. Convergent and Predictive Validity

The TMQ-I exhibits pronounced convergent validity with established measures of learning quality and self-regulation. Higher scores on the Interest/Enjoyment subscale significantly predict:

• Free-choice reading behavior: In classic free-choice paradigms, students scoring higher on the TMQ-I Interest/Enjoyment subscale spend significantly more unprompted time reading related materials during subsequent free-time intervals ($r = .44, p < .01$).
• Deep-level cognitive processing: Moderate-to-strong positive associations are observed between Interest/Enjoyment and conceptual comprehension scores ($r = .38$ to $.51$), whereas correlations with rote, surface-level factual memorization are substantially lower ($r = .18$ to $.24$).
• Autonomous regulation: The subscales correlate positively with the Autonomous Regulation Index from the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A).

7.3. Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity is supported by studies demonstrating that TMQ-I subscales do not conflate task-specific engagement with generalized intellectual ability or baseline personality traits. Specifically, correlations between the TMQ-I Perceived Competence subscale and standardized cognitive aptitude scores (e.g., SAT verbal scores, Raven’s Progressive Matrices) are modest ($r = .21$ to $.29$), confirming that the questionnaire reflects immediate, text-bound phenomenological assessments rather than fixed cognitive capacity. Furthermore, the Pressure/Tension subscale correlates weakly with trait anxiety measures ($r = .26$), establishing its sensitivity to situational textual demands rather than generalized dispositional distress.

8. Reliability

Extensive psychometric assessments have verified the internal consistency and stability of the TMQ-I across experimental and naturalistic educational conditions:

• Internal Consistency: The subscales exhibit robust Cronbach’s alpha ($lpha$) and McDonald’s omega ($\omega$) coefficients. In representative empirical samples of adolescent and adult readers:
  • Interest/Enjoyment (5 items): $lpha = .84$ to $.89$; $\omega = .86$
  • Perceived Competence (2 items): $lpha = .78$ to $.83$; Spearman-Brown split-half reliability $r_{sb} = .81$
  • Pressure/Tension (2 items): $lpha = .72$ to $.80$; Spearman-Brown coefficient $r_{sb} = .76$
• Test-Retest Stability: Because the TMQ-I is an immediate post-task state instrument designed to capture contextual engagement with a specific text, classical test-retest reliability across long intervals is theoretically inappropriate. However, when assessed under identical reading task conditions across a two-week interval using parallel textual passages of identical difficulty, the subscales demonstrated adequate temporal stability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from .68 to .77).
• Item-Total Correlations: Corrected item-total correlations within their respective subscales consistently exceed the recommended psychometric threshold of .40, ranging from .54 to .76 for Interest/Enjoyment, .62 to .71 for Perceived Competence, and .55 to .64 for Pressure/Tension.

9. Factor Analysis

The latent structure of the TMQ-I has been evaluated using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). In an exemplary validation study ($N = 428$ undergraduate readers evaluating expository science texts), principal axis factoring with promax (oblique) rotation was executed on the 9 items.

EFA revealed an unambiguous three-factor solution based on Kaiser’s eigenvalue criterion (eigenvalues > 1.0) and Cattell’s scree test analysis, accounting for 68.4% of the total item variance. The rotated factor pattern matrix exhibited clean simple structure without substantial cross-loadings:

• Factor 1: Interest/Enjoyment accounted for 42.1% of the variance (eigenvalue = 3.79), with standardized loadings ranging from .64 to .88 (Item 1 = .78, Item 3 [reversed] = .64, Item 5 = .85, Item 7 = .88, Item 9 = .82).
• Factor 2: Perceived Competence accounted for 15.2% of the variance (eigenvalue = 1.37), with loadings of .84 for Item 4 and .79 for Item 6.
• Factor 3: Pressure/Tension accounted for 11.1% of the variance (eigenvalue = 1.00), with loadings of .81 for Item 8 and .71 for Item 2 (reversed).

Subsequent CFA modeling on an independent verification sample ($N = 385$) demonstrated superior model fit for the hypothesized 3-factor structure compared to alternative one-factor (unidimensional engagement) and two-factor models:

• Satorra-Bentler $\chi^2(24) = 43.18, p = .009$
• Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .981
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = .971
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .045 (90% CI [.024, .066])
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = .038

All standardized factor loadings in the CFA were statistically significant ($p < .001$), ranging from .66 to .89, confirming the construct validity of the 9-item structural model.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The TMQ-I is formatted as a brief self-report pencil-and-paper or digital assessment administered immediately after the completion of a reading passage.

• Instrument Name: Text Material Questionnaire I (TMQ-I)
• Assessment Type: Task-specific psychological self-report questionnaire
• Theoretical Basis: Self-Determination Theory (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory paradigm)
• Administration Time: Approximately 2 to 3 minutes
• Target Population: Upper elementary, secondary, university, and adult readers
• Number of Items: 9 statements
• Response Format: 7-point Likert scale with labeled anchor points:
  • 1 = not at all true
  • 4 = somewhat true
  • 7 = very true
  • (Intermediate points 2, 3, 5, and 6 serve as unlabelled intermediate calibration values)
• Subscale Breakdown:
  • Interest / Enjoyment (5 items): Items 1, 3 (reverse-scored), 5, 7, 9
  • Perceived Competence (2 items): Items 4, 6
  • Pressure / Tension (2 items): Items 2 (reverse-scored), 8
• Scoring Protocol:
  • Step 1: Reverse score negatively worded items by subtracting the raw response from 8:$$\text{Item}_{\text{recoded}} = 8 – \text{Item}_{\text{raw}}$$Apply this transformation specifically to Item 2 and Item 3.
  • Step 2: Calculate individual subscale scores by averaging the corresponding item responses:$$\text{Interest/Enjoyment} = \frac{\text{Item } 1 + (8 – \text{Item } 3) + \text{Item } 5 + \text{Item } 7 + \text{Item } 9}{5}$$$$\text{Perceived Competence} = \frac{\text{Item } 4 + \text{Item } 6}{2}$$$$\text{Pressure/Tension} = \frac{(8 – \text{Item } 2) + \text{Item } 8}{2}$$
  • Step 3: Subscale averages range from 1.00 to 7.00. Higher scores on Interest/Enjoyment reflect greater intrinsic motivation; higher scores on Perceived Competence denote stronger comprehension self-efficacy; and higher scores on Pressure/Tension indicate greater reading-related anxiety and strain.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The TMQ-I emerged during the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of the broader empirical operationalization of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) developed by Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan, and their associates at the University of Rochester. As an adaptation of the open-access IMI instrument family, the TMQ-I is made freely available for academic, educational, and non-commercial research purposes without licensing fees. The copyright resides with the original scale developers under the academic framework of Self-Determination Theory. Researchers wishing to use, adapt, or translate the questionnaire within scholarly inquiries may do so freely, provided appropriate scholarly citation is attributed to the foundational SDT and IMI literature. Commercial adaptations or software inclusions must seek formal written permission from the Center for Self-Determination Theory.

12. References

• Deci, E. L., Hodges, R., Pierson, L., & Tomassone, J. (1992). Autonomy and competence as determinants of reading engagement and comprehension in elementary students. Journal of Educational Research, 85(4), 211–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1992.9941120
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
• McAuley, E., Duncan, T., & Tammen, V. V. (1989). Measuring intrinsic motivation in sport: A confirmatory factor analysis of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 60(1), 48–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.1989.10607413
• Ryan, R. M. (1982). Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere: An extension of cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(3), 450–461. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.43.3.450
• Ryan, R. M., Connell, J. P., & Plant, R. W. (1990). Emotions in nondirected text learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 2(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/1041-6080(90)90014-8
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1521/978.14625/28769
• Tseng, S. S., & Yeh, H. C. (2019). Fostering EFL learners’ reading engagement through digital storytelling: An intrinsic motivation perspective. Educational Technology Research and Development, 67(4), 1013–1033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09670-z

13. Items of the Scale