The actual health crisis has changed our lives and also affected the research projects of many. I was wondering if there was a way of assessing preschool children online. I know the best way is just to wait until the pandemic ends and do it in person in a lab, but as a PhD student that is not an option for my education.
Although a good evaluation will consist of different aspects of a child that are gathered by observation, interview or some designed tasks and standard tools, I believe that we can do some parts of assessments in online mode. Visual functions are easy to be assessed online and there are some computer-based assessment tools for evaluation of attention ,like IVA+ as well.
Yes, it will depend on what kind of assessments you are planning to administer, and what sort of data is required for your study.
For instance, if it is survey data, you could use Qualtrics to administer the survey via a web link, which students may be able to access without face-to-face meetings.
I suggest you consider both parent and child interviews by using virtual meetings. You can start with the parent interview first, and then the child will participate.
Please make sure that you receive a verbal assent from the child; even the parent gives the permission to participate in the study. The child's verbal assent is required when you are collecting data from the child.
In order to suggest more accurate alternatives for your work, can you give us more info about your research?
Guadalupe Nuñez-Marquez,
Parents reports might be interesting. When they score their child's performance and abilities (functioning in routines, for example), they are providing a valid score. It is an authentic assessment. You can use an electronic version of a tool or some evaluation criteria (not all the items will be applicable in the home environment) you use to assess children learning in the classroom and get parents to score it based on their observations of child performance at home.
Parent interviews are very interesting, but assuming the time needed to score a checklist, Likert-type scale, or a simple questionnaire, I'd try that option first.
Hope this helps!
There are ratings scales, e.g., adaptive behavior. Interview of caregivers would of course be important. I would strongly recommend that the parents make a video of the child playing, and also that you watch the parent's interactions with the child during play and attempts to instruct. You can check out my "Early Childhood Assessment" book and see what you think you can adapt to online assessment. The age of the child is of course important, as there is a universe of difference between a two year old and a six year old.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medicine
- Epi
- Age Groups
- Children