Li et al (2013) - Daycare

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

to investigate the effect of high and low quality day care during the infant-toddler and pre-school periods on cognitive, language and pre-academic development

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

Infant-toddler = <24 months
Pre-school = 24-54 months
ORCE = measured over 2 days 44 mins, if low or high quality day care, score >3.0 high
Variables = measure caregiver sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, foster exploration (BMDI = IT / PLS = Pre)
Taken from birth, 1364 families, gave details of background

Question 3

What details did they record

Answer 3

Ethnicity, gender, birth order, temperament, maternal attitudes, maternal age, educational level, health, maternal separation anxiety/depression, employment, income

Question 4

Who did Li et al exclude form the study

Answer 4

Teenage mothers, children with disabilities, families leaving area and mothers without good english

Question 5

What were the hypothesises of the study

Answer 5

1) > HQ early care would improve cognition
2) > HQ late care would improve cog, lang and pre academics
3) High-High would be associated with higher outcomes than all other combinations

Question 6

How did they make the study more generalisable?

Answer 6

Used variety of ethnicities, races and socioeconomic status’

Question 7

Were hypothesis true

Answer 7

1) High qual care at IT if have high qual preschool cog were improved. Low -> low or High -> low showed no improvements/were the same except memory showed a slight improvement with high -> low
2) high to high improve cog, lang, eng, maths some improvement from low -> high but less (better if high->high)
3) high -> high good everything. High to low some memory benefits. Low to low nothing good. Low to high maths benefits

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

1) high q first 24 months important for memory not as beneficial for academic skills
2) high q pre-school and IT benefited most
3) High q IT was not maintained with low Pre

Question 9

Population validity

Answer 9

+ Large sample, generalisable
+Taken from birth
+Investigated many factors which could effect (e.g. ethnicity)
- discluded teenager mothers, disabled children etc so can’t generalise findings to those chidlren
- unrepresentative = NICHD had 50% response rate, certain subgroup of people who responded. Biased to white economically advantaged families

Question 10

Strength of measured used

Answer 10

Gathered lots of data using variety of methods
Accounted for confounding variables

Question 11

Application of study

Answer 11

Help parents who can only afford one day care

Question 12

Disadvantage of study

Answer 12

Oversimplified categories
Did not include factors such as social skills