Measuring the Development of Cognitive Skills Across Time and Context: Reflections from Young Lives

In the first of our Insights Report series for the ESRC Methodological Learning project Professor Andrew Dawes explores measuring cognitive and development skills in children within longitudinal studies.

This Insights Report reflects upon:

The timing, frequency, and spacing of observations in a longitudinal study of children’s development The choices of measures of cognitive functions and skills in a cross-cultural longitudinal study Points to consider when measuring cognitive skills at successive ages Adapting, translating, and ensuring the equivalence and fairness of measures for use across cultural communities

This report is part of the ESRC-funded 'Methodological Learning and Lessons from Young Lives' project whereby Young Lives is reflecting on its experience and practices over fifteen years of research to create a dialogue with others involved in large-scale longitudinal studies in international development and related fields.