ECD INSTRUMENTS
Important Considerations for Assessing the
Development of Young Children across Cultures and
Socio-Economic Contexts
APEIE Workshop
Ghana, May 12th, 2010
Sophie Naudeau (HDNCY)
Overview
2
1)
2)
3)
4)
What should we
measure?
Selecting child
development instruments
Adapting child
development instruments
Summary and Conclusions
1. What should we measure?
3

ECD refers to the physical, cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional
development of children from conception to the transition to
primary school
1(…)What should we measure?
4

Children who reach the end of early childhood should be
developing well in all these areas in order to fully benefit from
further opportunities in the education and health sectors and to
become fully productive members of society
Research in ECD should be as comprehensive as
possible and measure:




Physical growth and nutrition status, e.g., anthropometrics (height, weight), irondeficiency anemia.
Cognitive development (e.g., early knowledge of numbers, shapes, colors,
concepts such as “more” or “less”, short term memory, etc.)
Linguistic development (e.g., babbling, pointing, and gesturing in infancy;
children’s capacity to communicate in native language as they become older)
Socio-emotional development (e.g., healthy “attachment” to caregiver in infancy;
capacity of older children to interact with peers and adults in a positive way)
1(…)What should we measure?
5

In addition to measuring child development
outcomes, it is also useful to measure a range
of variables/inputs that can promote
improved child development outcomes,
including:





Health history and feeding patterns at home
Type, amount, and quality of learning materials
available in the household (e.g., paper and
pencil, books, toys)
Amount of early stimulation happening at home
(how much do caregivers talk/sing/tell stories
or play games with their children, etc.)
Discipline strategies (i.e., punitive/harsh vs.
constructive)
Etc.
This information can usually be collected in the
context of socio-economic survey and/or
caregivers’ interviews.
2. Selecting child development
instruments
6
Few valid and reliable child development instruments have been
designed or used in low-income countries.

When doing ECD research in such contexts, it is important to first
identify instruments that are likely to yield useful results (i.e.,
instruments that work well within existing constraints)
Some of the important factors/constraints to take into consideration
include:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Main purpose of the assessment (e.g., screening vs. population level;
to assess what outcome(s), among what age group(s), etc.)
Availability (or lack thereof) of trained staff to administer child
development tests,
Level of capacity/experience of local survey firms,
Literacy levels of the parents/caregivers and other respondents,
Multiplicity of local languages,
IRB requirements, budget, timeline, copyright issues, etc.
2. (…) Selecting child development
instruments
7
The key questions to address in
selecting CD instruments typically
include:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
How easy is the test to administer for
the intended population? What
language(s) should it be administered
in?
How culturally relevant is it? To what
extent necessary
adaptations/modifications can be
made?
What age group does the test cover?
What developmental domain(s) does
the test assess?
2. (…) Selecting child development
instruments
8
Examples of child
development instruments
that have been used in past
and current IEs of
ECD include:


The TVIP (Peabody): test of
receptive language, valid for
ages 2.5 year and above,
directly administered to the child
The Woodcock Johnson Memory for
Names: test of short-term memory,
valid for ages 2.5. years and
above, directly administered to the
child
2. (…) Selecting child development
instruments
9



The ASQ (Ages and Stages Questionnaire): 5
domains of development (communication,
fine-motor, gross-motor, problem solving, &
socio-emotional), valid for ages 0-6 years.
Some items administered to the child, others
asked to the caregiver.
The EDI (Early Development Instrument):
overall school readiness of the child, valid
for ages 4-7 years. Ratings are done by
preschool or 1st grade teachers.
The SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire): socio-emotional
development, valid for ages 4 and above.
Ratings are done by parent/caregiver
3. Adapting child development
instruments
10


All instruments that were initially developed in a different
context should also be adapted to ensure their validity and
reliability in the socio-economic/cultural context in which the
research will take place
Every effort must be made to ensure that tests are fair for all
children assessed and that they will yield useful data.
This process typically involves:





Translating and back translating
Dropping items that are irrelevant or cannot be tested
Replacing/rewording items as needed
Developing detailed protocols and training data collectors
Piloting, adjusting, re-piloting, re-adjusting, etc.
3. (…) Adapting child development
instruments
11
Important factors to keep in mind:

This process always takes longer than expected
Build in extra time for this purpose

Involve local professionals to gather information relating to linguistic,
cultural and technical details that could be relevant, including:




Child psychologists
Community health & social workers
Early childhood educators, teachers, etc.
No adaptation is ever perfect: use caution in interpreting results,
especially in relation to norms that were developed elsewhere.
4. Summary and conclusions
12
A.
B.
C.
D.
ECD is a multi-dimensional concept
that needs to be measured in a
comprehensive manner
Selecting child development
instruments is a process that requires:
(i) assessing local/research
constraints, and (ii) addressing key
questions
Adapting child development
instruments is a necessary and oftentime consuming process that requires
the involvement of multiple
informants
Data need to be analyzed and
interpreted with caution, especially
when making cross-cultural
comparisons
Thank You
For further information:
Snaudeau@worldbank.org