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2. General features of empirical studies

2. General features of empirical studies. Nine general features of empirical studies on the effects of non-parental care and education:. 1. Intervention studies or studies on regular care and education programs. Interventions studies, mainly:  (quasi-)experimental studies

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2. General features of empirical studies

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  1. 2. General features of empirical studies Nine general features of empirical studies on the effects of non-parental care and education: 1. Intervention studies or studies on regular care and education programs • Interventions studies, mainly: •  (quasi-)experimental studies •  model-programs for children from disadvantaged families •  extensive programs including also other assistance for the families Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  2. 2. General features of empirical studies 1. Intervention studies or studies on regular care and education programs • Interventions studies, cont.: •  located at universities or research centers •  good quality (e.g. teacher-child-relation, class size, teacher training) • Studies of regular programs, mainly: •  regular programs for non selected groups of children and families •  larger samples of children and families and types of programs of varying quality Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  3. 2. General features of empirical studies 2. Effects of specific programs or effects of the cumulative care history • Specific programs •  selected types of care and education, like preschools for children aged 3 to 5 or day care settings •  control of basis necessary • Cumulative care history •  aggregated effects of settings in the care history •  starting very early (before children visit non-parental care and education settings) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  4. 2. General features of empirical studies 3. Quality and its dose • Hypothesis: The dose of quality is impor-tant! • i.e. quality and quantity are important: •  duration (number of months of care), •  amount (number of hours per day or week), •  begin of non-parental care at all or of a specific setting, •  stability of the care situation und a specific care setting Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  5. 2. General features of empirical studies 4. Control of family background • Different families may select different settings within a type. • Different variables may be controlled, e.g.: •  education of parents •  socioeconomic status •  depression of mothers •  attitudes towards maternal employment •  level of home stimulation •  parental sensibility towards needs of the child Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  6. 2. General features of empirical studies 5. Relation between home stimulation and quality of non-parental setting • Hypothesis 1: We have to consider both effects simultaneously. • Hypothesis 2: The difference between the two qualities is important: •  If home quality is lower than out of home quality  compensatory effects •  If home quality is higher than out of home quality  lost resources • Hypothesis 3: The effects of home and out of home quality are additive. Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  7. 2. General features of empirical studies 6. Short-term and long-term effects • Questions 1 for long-term effects: Will the effects continue, diminish or disappear? Or will effects only come up later (sleeper effects)? • Question 2: Are the effects of the later ex-perienced qualities at school independent of the qualities experienced earlier, do they strengthen or weaken earlier effects? Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  8. 2. General features of empirical studies 7. Multiple criteria • Question 1: Is early non-parental care and education an educational offer for children or a service for mothers? • Questions 2: Will early non-parental care strengthen cognitive development at the expense of negative effects on socio-emotional development? Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  9. 2. General features of empirical studies 8. Effect sizes • Calculating effect sizes (Cohen): mean of experimental group minus mean of control group divided by standard deviation of control group • around .2 = low effects; around .5 = medium effects; greater .8 = high effects • Comparison needed with other well known important predictors (e.g., education of mother, family poverty) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  10. 2. General features of empirical studies 9. Transferability • Main studies in England and USA - Are re-sults transferable to Portuguese situation? • In general yes because of common histo-rical-cultural traditions. • Transferability may depend on •  the analyzed segment of quality •  the socio-cultural background the families •  the zeitgeist Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  11. 2. Definition and measurements of outcomes Three broader areas of outcomes: • Mother-child-attachment • Socio-emotional competencies • (1) social competencies and peer behavior • (2) behavior problems • Cognitive competencies • (1) cognitive, language and mathematical competencies • (2) school achievement and school career Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  12. 2. Definition and measurements of outcomes 2. Examples for socio-emotional competencies (1) social competencies and peer behavior  social skills, social adjustment, social re-sponsibility, cooperative and pro-social be-havior, peer relations, sociability, independ-ence, self control, self-assertion, concentra-tion, working habits (2) behavior problems  disobedience, disciplinary problems, con-flicts with adults, aggressive behavior against other children, anti-social behavior, externali-zations, internalizations, (negative) assertions Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  13. 2. Definition and measurements of outcomes 2. Examples for cognitive competencies (1) cognitive, language and mathematical competencies (incl. intelligence) (2) school achievement and school career  school achievement in different grades, retention in grade, assignment to special education Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  14. 2. Definition and measurements of outcomes Three measurement types: • Observations •  especially of social behavior in standardi-zed or natural situations • Interviews/questionnaires/reports •  standardized reports of parents or care provider (form of rating scales) • Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach) • Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (Sparrow u.a) •  interviews with children • Feelings About School Measure FAS (Stipek) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  15. 2. Definition and measurements of outcomes Three measurement types: 3. Tests  especially in the area of cognitive development and (school) achievement Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test PPVT (Dunn & Dunn) – receptive language Problem: instruments have to be sensible for effects of non-parental care! Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  16. 2. Definition and measurements of quality • Research needs a concept of quality which is measurable! • Three dimensions of quality can be distin-guished: •  structural quality (e.g. the iron triangle: group size, teacher-child-ratio, qualifications of care persons) •  process quality (interactions of children with peers, adults and the space-material environment) •  (sometimes) quality of educational orien-tations (e.g., attitudes, conception of the child) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  17. 2. Definition and measurements of quality Measurement of process quality: • Is process quality related to the group in gen-eral or to that what a specific child experi-ences? • How broad is process quality conceptualized? More global or with regard to specific aspects? • Three examples: Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  18. 2. Definition and measurements of quality Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale - ECERS • ECERS (Harms & Clifford 1980), ECERS-R (Harms, Clifford & Cryer 1998), ECERS-E (Sylva, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggert 2003) used in many studies worldwide • ECERS-R consists of 43 items in the form of seven-point rating scales, ECERS-E 15 items • ECERS-instruments are administered after an three hour observation by an external rater Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  19. 2. Definition and measurements of quality Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale - ECERS • ECERS-R covers 7 areas: space and furnish-ings; personal care routines; language and reasoning; activities; interaction; program structure; parents and staff • ECERS-E covers 4 areas: literacy; mathemat-ics; science and environment; diversity Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  20. 2. Definition and measurements of quality Caregiver Interaction Scale (Arnett 1989) • often administered together with ECERS-instruments • related to specific aspects of process quality and process quality at the group level • 26 four-point rating scales measuring aspects of the character of the interactions of the care person with the children in the group • four areas in the original instrument: positive interactions; punishing behavior; permitting behavior; withdrawal/distance to the children Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  21. 2. Definition and measurements of quality Observational Record of the Caregiving Environ-ment – ORCE (NICHD Study of Early Child Care) • developed and used in the NICHD SECC • different versions according to age groups • related to the quality a specific target child experiences and to specific aspects of quality (behavior of care person) • combination of time sampling with ratings • sometimes use of an indicator for “overall positive caregiving quality” Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  22. 3. Examples of studies • Studies on regular care and education programs • Intervention programs/model projects Two types of studies: Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  23. 3. Examples of studies Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers – CQC-Study: • study of the effects of specific programs • 4 states in USA – California, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina • longitudinal study of cognitive and socio-emotional development - from 4 to 8 years of age Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  24. Measurement points CQC-Study 1. MP 2. MP 4.4. MP MP 3. MP 5. MP 5 years (1994) 6 years (1995) 8 years (1997) 4 years (1993) Measurement of outcomes 3. Examples of studies Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers – CQC-Study: Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  25. 3. Examples of studies Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers – CQC-Study: • start sample: 826 children from 183 groups in 176 preschools – at age 8: 418 children (out of 160 of the 183 original groups) • observation of quality in the preschools • literature  Peisner-Feinberg et al. 1999, 2001 Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  26. 3. Examples of studies European Child Care and Education Study – ECCE-Study • study of the effects of specific programs • 4 countries in Europe  Austria, Germany, Portugal (only phase 1) and Spain • longitudinal study of cognitive and socio-emotional development - from 4 to 8 years of age Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  27. Measurement points ECCE-Study 3. MP 4. MP (only Germany) 1. MP 2. MP 5. MP 6;6 years (1996) 8;6 years (1998) 4 years (autumn 1993 to summer 1994) Measurement of outcomes 3. Examples of studies European Child Care and Education Study – ECCE-Study Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  28. 3. Examples of studies European Child Care and Education Study – ECCE-Study • start sample: 1.244 children from 314 groups in 314 preschools (Austria: 152 children from 43 groups; Germany: 422 from 103; Portugal: 345 from 88; Spain: 325 from 80) – at age 8: 586 children from 206 of the original groups, now in 390 elementary school classes (Austria 107 children; Germany 306; Spain 173) • observations of quality in the preschools • literature  ECCE-Study Group 1997, 1999 Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  29. 3. Examples of studies Effective Provision of Pre-School Education – EPPE-Project • study of the effects of specific programs • different regions in England • longitudinal study of cognitive and socio-emotional development - from 3 or 4 years (entry in the study) to entry in primary school, additional measurement points end grade 1 (age 6) and 2 (age 7) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  30. Measurement points EPPE Project 1. MP 4. MP Rrecruit-ment of sample 2. MP Further measurement points are planned 3. MP 3 Jahre (1999) 4 years (2000) 5 years (2001) 6 years (2002) 7 years (2003) till age 11 (2008) Measurement of outcomes 3. Examples of studies Effective Provision of Pre-School Education – EPPE-Project Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  31. 3. Examples of studies Effective Provision of Pre-School Education – EPPE-Project • Start sample: 2.857 children from 141 pre-school settings (nursery classes, play-groups, local authority day nurseries, private day nurseries, nursery schools, integrated centres) - at entry into primary school 770 different Primary Schools; plus 314 children without preschool - at entry into primary school 96 different Primary Schools • observations of quality in all pre-schools Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  32. 3. Examples of studies Effective Provision of Pre-School Education – EPPE-Project • Design of the study is planned to conduct multi-level analyses. • literature: Sammons et al. 2002, 2003, 2004 a, 2004 b, Sylva et al. 2004b Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  33. 3. Examples of studies Study of Early Child Care (SECC), National In-stitute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) • study of the effects of the cumulative care history • 10 sites in the USA • longitudinal study of cognitive and socio-emotional development - from first month of life on Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  34. Measurement points SECC 5. MP 13. MP 1. MP 9. MP 2. MP 6. MP 10. MP 7. MP 11. MP further measurement points planned 3. MP 12. MP 4. MP 8. MP 15 Jahre (2008/ 2009) 3 years (94) 2 years (93) 6 years (99/ 00) 1 and 6 months (91) 15 months (92) 4;6 and 5 years (95 to 98) 7 years (00/ 01) 8 years (01/ 02) 9 years (02/ 03) 10 years (03/ 04) 11 years (04/ 05) Measurement of outcomes 3. Examples of studies Study of Early Child Care (SECC), National In-stitute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  35. 3. Examples of studies Study of Early Child Care (SECC), National In-stitute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) • start sample: 1.364 children – at age 4;6 1.083 children • non-maternal care settings = at least 10 hours per week care by a person other than the mother – all non-maternal settings are observed • literature: http.//secc.rti.org Hans-Guenther Rossbach

  36. 3. Examples of studies • intervention study, experimental design • random assignment of 123 children (low IQ, from highly disadvantaged families), 58 children in intervention group • children in the intervention group visited at the age of 3 and 4 a two-year high quality program • children from both groups are followed up till age 39/41 • literature: Schweinhart/Barnes/Weikart 1993 (and internet) Perry Preschool Project Hans-Guenther Rossbach

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