Getting something out of nothing: Analyzing patterns of null responses to improve data collection methods in sub-Saharan Africa

Date

2/1/2017

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Learning and Individual Differences

Abstract

Careful development and adaptation of assessments is imperative for cultural psychological research. However, despite the best efforts, the use of assessments in new contexts can reveal atypical and/or unexpected patterns of performance. We found this to be the case in the testing of assessments to be used for a larger investigation of Specific Reading Disabilities in Zambia. In a sample of 207 children (100 female) from grades 2 to 7, we illustrated that assessment characteristics (i.e., stimulus type, answer choice, and response type) differentially impact patterns of responsiveness. The number of missing values was highest for assessments that (1) used written stimuli, (2) had an open-ended answer choice, and (3) required an action response. Age and socio-economic status explained some of the variance in responsiveness in selected, but not all assessments. Consideration of the impact of stimulus and response types when adapting assessments cross-linguistically and cross-culturally is essential.

Description

Keywords

Assessment design, Assessment adaptation, Assessment translation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Missing data

Citation

Copyright 2016 Learning and Individual Differences. This is a post-print version of a published paper that is available at:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608014002374. Recommended citation: Hein, Sascha, Jodi Reich, Sarah Marks, Philip E. Thuma, and Elena L. Grigorenko. "Getting something out of nothing: Analyzing patterns of null responses to improve data collection methods in sub-Saharan Africa." Learning and individual differences 46 (2016): 11-16. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2014.11.024. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author's permission.