A Method for Describing Preschoolers' Activity Preferences

Abstract

We designed a series of analyses to develop a measurement system capable of simultaneously recording the free-play patterns of 20 children in a preschool classroom. Study 1 determined the intermittency with which the location and engagement of each child could be momentarily observed before the accuracy of the measurement was compromised. Results showed that intervals up to 120 s introduced less than 10% measurement error. Study 2 determined the extent of agreement between two observers who simultaneously collected data for 20 children using 30-, 60-, 90-, and 120-s momentary time sampling (MTS) intervals. The three larger intervals resulted in high levels of interobserver agreement (above 90%), whereas the 30-s interval resulted in unacceptably low levels of agreement (less than 80%). By allowing observers to select from among the different MTS intervals via a datasheet array and then collect data with the chosen system, Study 3 determined observers' preferences for the remaining MTS intervals. Both data collectors preferred the 90-s MTS procedure. The sensitivity of the 90-s MTS procedure, which was shown to be accurate, reliable, and preferred, was then demonstrated by its use to describe activity preferences of a classroom of children in Study 4. This system identified highand low-preference activities for individual children and revealed interesting patterns of response allocation by the group.

Teacher Report and Direct Assessment of Preferences for Identifying Reinforcers for Young Children

“…For example, Reid et al (2003) conducted brief observations of children with developmental disabilities in inclusive settings to identify preferences for toys readily available in classrooms. Similarly, Hanley et al (2005) recently demonstrated the validity and reliability of a time-sampling procedure for simultaneously determining preschoolers' preferences for ongoing classroom activities. The strength of these assessments is that they are both conducted during regularly scheduled free-play periods, with no disruption to the classroom routine.…”

“…Therefore, early childhood educators may implement reinforcement programs to promote acquisition of age-appropriate skills (e.g., continence, Simon & Thompson, 2006;social skills, Zanolli, Paden, & Cox, 1997). However, the literature says little about what strategies early childhood educators use to select reinforcers, and only a few behavior-analytic studies have described preference assessments developed for young children in early education (see, e.g., Hanley, Cammilleri, Tiger, & Ingvarsson, 2005;Reid, DiCarlo, Schepis, Hawkins, & Stricklin, 2003).…”

Assessing Children's Physical Activity in Their Homes: The Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children‐home

“…Nevertheless, we believe that observing relatively short periods of time frequently and for multiple 30-min sessions allowed us to capture reliable physical activity and accompanying contextual information. Indeed, time-sampling procedures have been employed frequently and effectively in numerious direct-observation studies (Hanley, Cammilleri, Tiger, & Ingvarsson, 2007;cf. Brown, Odom, Li, & Zercher, 1999;Hartmann & Wood, 1990).…”

Detecting changes in simulated events using partial‐interval recording and momentary time sampling

“…Studies have also found that MTS with interval sizes up to 1 min produced similar data paths as continuous duration recording (CDR) when measuring duration events (Alvero et al, 2007;Gunter, Venn, Patrick, Miller, & Kelly, 2003;Hanley, Cammilleri, Tiger, & Ingvarsson, 2007;Kearns, Edwards, & Tingstrom, 1990;Saudargas & Zanoli, 1990;Test & Heward, 1984). Moreover, two recent studies found that PIR and MTS with 10 and 20 s intervals yielded the same conclusions about functional control when evaluating moderate or large changes in frequency events (Meany-Daboul, Roscoe, Bourret, & Ahearn, 2007) and duration events (Meany-Daboul et al; Rapp et al, 2007).…”