Cultural Adaptation and Norms Setting of a Childhood Intelligence Measure in a Rural District of Pakistan
Table of Contents
This doctoral research was undertaken with an overall aim to enhance future productivity of rural children in Pakistan by focusing on their cognitive potential.
Objectives to achieve this aim included administration of the culturally adapted Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–fourth edition (WPPSI–IV) in order to develop local intelligence norms in 6–7 years old children of rural district Rawalpindi.
Rural setting was selected because Pakistan has 63% of the rural area; therefore, rural children deserve foremost priority in their cognitive potential assessment.
Cultural Adaptation Process Using the Kilifi Approach
Four–stage Kilifi approach was utilized for the cultural adaptation and piloting (n=61) of this intelligence measure.
During the main study, adapted WPPSI–IV was administered to 300 children for measuring their Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), which is an indicator of cognitive development.
During adaptation and piloting, goodness of fit analyses of the first and second order piloting data models concluded that the a priori WPPSI–IV model was able to reproduce acceptable degree of correlations in the piloting data models.
Furthermore, the FSIQ scores of piloting data were found to be normally distributed.
IQ Findings from the Main Study
In contrast, FSIQ scores distribution for the main study dataset came out to be non–normal with a positive skew.
Mean FSIQ and standard deviation, for the main study dataset of this PhD research, was 84 and 13 respectively.
According to the recommended qualitative WPPSI–IV score interpretation, mean FSIQ of rural Pakistani children relative to the United States normative sample was in the category of “low–average”.
Scores of the majority of children were in the ‘borderline’ category.
Educational Influence and Parental Literacy
Owing to the scarcity of published literature, comparison of the current research’s FSIQ finding could not be made with other similar studies on intelligence testing of rural children from the developing world.
Findings of the multiple regression analysis carried out in this doctoral research concluded that grade/class of the child was the most influential predictor of the FSIQ.
The next important predictor was the level of mother’s education, followed by the father’s education.
Thirty percent of the mothers in this PhD study were found to be illiterate.
This percentage for fathers was eleven percent.
Parental Education and FSIQ Extremes
Findings of our PhD research are in line with previous empirical studies indicating that educated mothers were more likely to have children with higher levels of cognitive development than the illiterate mothers.
Both the parents of the child who scored maximum FSIQ in this doctoral research received 16 years of education.
The parents of the child with minimum FSIQ were illiterate.
Child with lowest FSIQ was in the first grade, while highest scorer was in the second grade.
Limitations of Standardized Testing in Rural Settings
Therefore, FSIQ/IQ of rural Pakistani children in low–average to borderline categories, seen in this doctoral research, is not reflective of their full cognitive potential.
Wechsler tests measure intelligence partially through items taught in school.
Therefore, more or better schooling could produce the appearance of intelligence gains over time.
Educational system and living conditions of rural Pakistani children did not expose them to the same areas of knowledge tested by the Wechsler IQ scale.
Cultural Considerations in Intelligence Measurement
The assumption that differences in culture do not affect hypothetically “culture–reduced” psychological measures is questionable.
This is highlighted by the construct validation findings of this doctoral research.
Three latent constructs (visual spatial, working memory, and fluid reasoning) demonstrated multicollinearity in the piloting data models.
These constructs are identified by only two observed variables in the WPPSI–IV a priori model.
The recommendation is that every latent factor should be defined by at least three, and preferably four, observed variables with acceptable loadings.
Recommendations for Developing Countries
Consequently, cognitive development measures for use in developing countries need to be disaggregated.
They should incorporate urban–rural and rich–poor disparities to address unexplained group differences.
These unexplained gaps could otherwise leave room for racially prejudiced interpretations.
However, despite all challenges, operationalization of the available intelligence tests in particular settings of the developing world is essential.
Such efforts are needed to shape indicators for monitoring cognitive development.
One important reason that developing world’s governments do not invest in early childhood development is lack of globally accepted indicators to monitor progress in childhood cognitive development.
Cultural Adaptation and Norms Setting of a Childhood Intelligence Measure in a Rural District of Pakistan – Full PDF Copy of the Thesis
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This abstract is re-organized for readability. For 100% original text, read the full thesis PDF linked above.
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