Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2005
Publication Title
Psychology in the Schools
Volume
42
Issue
1
First Page
13
Last Page
26
Abstract
Data were gathered from videotaped recordings of two preschool children engaged in unstructured free play over 12 days each. Observers coded behavior from the videotapes and completed a behavior rating scale for each child after every two observation sessions. Teachers also completed two behavior rating scales per child. Results indicated that at least three 30-min observation sessions were required to reliably represent a child’s overall behavior. Moderate correlations were obtained when observations were compared with teachers’ and observers’ own ratings, indicating the behavior rating scale did an adequate job of reflecting actual observed behavior. The implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Recommended Citation
McKevitt, Brian and Elliott, Stephen N., "Observations and ratings of preschool children’s social behavior: Issues of representativeness and validity" (2005). Psychology Faculty Publications. 124.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacpub/124
Comments
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: McKevitt, B. C., & Elliott, S.N. (2005). Observations and ratings of preschool children’s social behavior: Issues of representativeness and validity. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 13-26, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/doi/10.1002/pits.20023/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.