- Title
- Socio-ecological, contextual effects in Raven’s Colour Progressive Matrices scores: developing an index for guiding test selection and interpretation
- Creator
- August, Justin Oswin
- Subject
- Psychological testing
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- PhD
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/50214
- Identifier
- vital:42071
- Description
- With the changing landscape in South Africa to full democracy, increased research has been undertaken in the psychometric field on local and national normative studies regarding various assessment measures. Given that the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) is purported to be culture-free and not heavily dependent on verbal and language skills; it has been extensively normed throughout the world for various population groups. While norms for normal populations of children have been developed in South Africa, these studies were based on race and gender predominantly and without taking into consideration the effects of socio-ecological factors on test performance. The research study aimed to understand the influence of socio-ecological factors on the expression of cognitive scores amongst a geographically diverse sample of South African learners. Through this study, research on the interplay between context and cognition was to be located within the Ecological Systems model of Bronfenbrenner. A secondary aim of the study was to develop an index that will guide test selection and interpretation of assessment results, taking into account the influence of socio-ecological factors and providing a conceptual framework for future test development. The study employed a quantitative methodology on a South African sample consisting of primary school children aged between the ages of 6 years to 11 years. The sample was drawn from schools in the Port Elizabeth area in South Africa that were classified into low, medium, and high opportunity, based on context. The results indicated that the type of school had a significant impact on test performance, suggesting that contextual factors were influential in this process. The item analysis conducted further indicated that learners from a low opportunity school performed significantly lower than the other two schools in the sample. The index development provides a foundation for further research that would enhance the interpretation of test results. In the South African context, this is considered important, given our political history and our diversity where a “one size fits all” approach is not possible.
- Format
- xiii, 246 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU School of Behavioural Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | August, JO 199215421 Thesis April 2020.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |