Contemporary study: Li

Question 1

AO1-Aim

Answer 1

To see the effects on cognitive, language and pre-academic skills in children who received either high or low quality care at infant/toddler level and pre-school level

Question 2

AO1 Sample

Answer 2

Used secondary data from NICHD study

1364 families was recruited from ten sample sites around north America in 1991 from various hospitals at the birth of a child.

Question 3

AO1 Procedure

Answer 3

• At the age of one month, the children and families were assessed using a variety of research methods; observations were made, questionnaires and child assessment, in addition to information gathered on the family background as far as possible confounding variables*.
• The quality of childcare being received was assessed using the 44 minute Observational Record of the Caregiving Environment (ORCE) when the children were aged 6, 15, 24, 36 and 54 months in a range of settings, including the home and nurseries.
• Scores of more than 3.0 indicated higher-quality care where caregivers were sensitive to children’s needs, provided greater cognitive stimulation and fostered greater exploration.
• At the end of the infant toddler period the Bayley Mental Developmental index was used to assess the children’s cognitive development- this is essentially an IQ score
• At the end of the preschool period the Woodcock-Johnson cognitive and achievement batteries and the Preschool Language Scale (PLS) was used to measure language, problem solving, memory and intelligence.
*Ethnicity, gender, birth order, child temperament, maternal attitudes on raising children, maternal age, maternal and paternal educational level, child’s health, maternal separation anxiety, maternal depression, maternal employment status and family income, were taken at varying intervals

Question 4

AO1 Results

Answer 4

• Early high care (care during infant period) benefits cognitive development.
• However, if you go into poor quality care during the second period you lose all of the benefits except memory (memory being the only significant difference between high-low and low-low).
• High-quality care during the preschool period is associated with improvement in cognitive and language, reading, and maths results (but no significant difference for memory).
• In addition, those who received high-quality preschool care in addition to high-quality infant-toddler care scored better than low-high comparison children on reading and maths ability at 54 months. High-high performed better than low-high
• The high-high pattern produced the best outcomes (language, reading and maths) , the low-low pattern produced the worst outcomes, and there was little observable difference between the outcomes produced by high-low versus low-high-quality childcare (one was better in reading and the other in language).
• Remember though, memory development seemed to benefit from early high-quality care in the infant-toddler period, but maths ability benefitted from high-quality care in the preschool period.

Question 5

+AO3 Generalisable

Answer 5

Large sample of 1364 children from 10 different locations makes it more generalisable and representative of a wider population

Question 6

+AO3 Triangulation

Answer 6

Several measures were used meaning they can support one another and increases the validity of the results

Question 7

+AO3 Longitudinal data

Answer 7

over the early period of their lives (and across different daycare situations) lets us see development and change over time (and how daycare effects them)

Question 8

+AO3 Low EVs

Answer 8

were eliminated which makes the results of the study more valid

Question 9

+AO3 Ethics

Answer 9

Naturally occurring (which type of Daycare they went to etc) so ethical as any harm/deficits they encounter are not due to the researcher’s doing

Question 10

+AO3 Low Participant Variables

Answer 10

Repeated measures (comparing the children to themselves at the different stages of their life) eliminates participant variables i.e. natural intelligence which could influence the results

Question 11

+AO3 Quantitative data

Answer 11

statistical tests to see if the results were due to chance or not

Question 12

+AO3 Useful

Answer 12

judgements about daycare

Question 13

-AO3 Secondary data from NICHD

Answer 13

it wasn’t conducted for the purpose of this study and there may be issues with how it was gathered which Li was not aware of/it was not designed perfectly

Question 14

-AO3 reductionist

Answer 14

Reduces ‘quality of care’ down to responsiveness/a number (3.0) cannot truly reflect quality of daycare in the depth needed

Only looked at cognitive/academic ability not social etc therefore doesn’t give a complete picture on the effects of daycare

Question 15

-AO3 EVs

Answer 15

Can’t eliminate all Extraneous Variables (individual or situational) which lowers the validity of the findings

Question 16

-AO3 Ethnocentric

Answer 16

all US therefore may not apply elsewhere in the world