6.1 Setting up for Questionnaires
- Position yourself in front of mom, with the paperwork between
you.
- Set up the tripod to capture both you and mom. You will need to change the battery on the camera to ensure sufficient power.
- Give mom a copy of the Colored Answer Scales:
- Give mom a copy of the Vocabulary inventories so that she can follow along when needed:
6.2 Questionnaires
All questionnaires should be administered in the primary language of the mom.
You will fill out all questionnaires on your computer or your tablet using the Kobotoolbox app. Here are the 8 questionnaires you will use, in the following order:
| Questionnaire |
|
| Demographic Questionnaire |
(Over the phone with mom) |
|
Home questions: - Locomotor Milestones - Vocabulary Inventories - Health - Temperament - Media Use - Pets - Division of labor - Typical Day |
During Home Visit (In person with mom) |
| Post-visit notes |
After Home Visit (Experimenter alone) |
You will administer all the questionnaires online using the KoBo
Toolbox application. Links to all the questionnaires can be found in the
tables below (please click on the
icon to go to the live KoBo
Toolbox questionnaires online). In case of technical issues (and to have
a paper copy of all questionnaires during home visits), please download
the pdf version (
) of the
questionnaires from below. For printing, each of the above forms are
bundled into sets for different age and language combinations. (Please
note that presentation and format will differ from the Kobotoolbox
app.)
| Age | Language |
|
Demographic questionnaire (all ages) |
|
|
Home questionnaire: 12 months |
|
|
Home questionnaire: 18 months |
|
|
Home questionnaire: 24 months |
|
|
Post-Visit Notes (all ages) |
|
6.2.1 Locomotor Milestones
This part is a concentric, clinical interview and not a simple questionnaire. Parents will not always have our specific criteria in mind when remembering dates. And they may not accurately recall events. You want mom to “tell a story” with details about how the child progressed into each skill, where and when it happened, and information to anchor her memory, notes, or a calendar. Follow the CRAWL guidelines below to properly decide with the mom on an onset date for each criterion.
Note: These are general rules and guidelines to follow. You will need to be flexible and adapt what you are saying, following up on, and probing depending on what the mom is saying, the age of the child, and other factors. There is no “one size fits all” procedure to obtaining valid locomotor milestones.
C= cross-check age and date
If mom gives you an age “around 8 months,” give the mom a date: “Ok, your child would have been 8 months around the first week of June. Did you see [child do skill to criterion] the first week of June?” If mom gives you a date “before Thanksgiving,” give the mom an age: “Ok, your child would have been a little over 13 months on Thanksgiving. Did you see [child do skill to criterion] when she was 13 months?”. Use the generated list of dates/ages.
You can also use how many days/weeks from today as a cross-check (if it was recent). “Ok, so 12 months of age would be 3 weeks ago. Did you see [child do skill to criterion] 3 weeks ago?” Or you can use days/week before/after another skill as a cross-check: “Ok, so your child walked 5 steps without stopping, falling, or holding on at the end of February, and you saw her walk 10 ft without stopping, falling, or holding on when she was 13 months. So that would mean it was about 2 weeks from when she was walking those 5 steps until you saw her walk 10 feet across the floor all on her own?”
R = reaffirm criteria with mother
Focus on when the mom “saw” the behavior (not just child “could” do it) and specifics of the criteria. The mom will not have in mind our exact criteria when thinking about “crawling” or “walking.” If mom does not affirm criteria in what she is saying, say it all again. Repeat the criteria in full as many times as you can, when cross-checking, anchoring, and finally setting on a date. If mom mentions a behavior that does not meet criteria (e.g., cruising), you can use that as a cross-check date, but affirm mom understands the criteria for that skill (e.g., not holding on to anything). You can even mimic or act out the behavior, gesture in the physical space to give a sense of distance, or mention specific landmarks (“from this couch to the bookshelf is about 10 ft”).
A = anchor to an event
Use the generated list of holidays. The mother may also (and should) bring up other events of interest—for example, her birthday, family vacation. Knowing that the child did not do a skill to criteria on a certain event (“he was definitely not walking 5 steps when we went to the lake house in August”) is as useful as when a child did a behavior.
W = whittle down to a date
You want to get a specific date. “10 months” is not specific enough. You also want to “rule out” when the child definitely didn’t do it, but also when the mom definitely did see it. Guide mom to remember a specific day. If the best you can do is within a certain week, or a few days after an event, or some close range: pick a date and say it aloud to the mom “Ok, so a week after Mother’s Day would be May 16. Does May 16th sound right to you?” You want to cross-check, reaffirm criteria, and anchor; so once you have agreed on a rough date (within 2-7 days) with the mom it’s ok to verify and move on.
L = look at videos to verify out of ordinary cases
Any time mom reports an onset earlier than the skill should appear (see notes below each skill for age that is too early; <12mos for walking, <8mos for crawling), ask mom if she has videos from around that time of child doing that skill. “Ok, so mid August would make her 6 months. Do you have a video of her crawling at around 6 months?” Watch the video with the mom to verify, or reaffirm and correct to criteria if video does not show skill that matches criteria. “Oh, I see he’s crawling with his belly touching the floor and really getting around! How long after this was it until you saw him crawl all the way across the floor without his belly touching the floor?”
If the mom does not remember a date, age, or time frame at all (especially for 24-month-olds about crawling), try to get her to think about when the child was definitely doing the skill OR definitely not doing the skill and work forward/backward in time. You might only get a rough range. It’s fine to just note in the comment field that the mom does not remember at all and move on if your probing is not going to yield a valid date.
Enter comments about: Things mom says to help anchor the event, for example, if she said an event mom definitely did not see child doing skill or definitely did see child doing skill. If mom gives too early of an age, write notes about how you verified the skill was done early. If mom detailed a behavior that does not meet criteria (belly crawling), note when that happened as a cross-check date for the behavior does meet criteria (crawling without belly touching).
6.3 Permission to share - signing Databrary form
- After completing the home questionnaires, the KoBoToolbox form will
generate scripts for asking Databrary permission (see documentation PDF
)
- Be sure to continue video recording while signing the Databrary form.
- Say:
The data that we collected today is incredibly valuable for researchers. We are asking for your permission to upload the videos to a secure online data library where only authorized researchers have access. There are two levels of permission – the first level is if you allow us to share the video with other researchers and the second level is for researchers to be able to show excerpts and images in presentations and conferences. This is a form that explains everything I just said. Because both you and [CHILD] were on the video, Please check ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each level for yourself and for [CHILD] and sign.
Datos como estos son increíblemente valiosos para investigadores. Le estamos pidiendo permiso para subir los videos a una biblioteca segura de datos en línea a la cual solo tienen acceso investigadores autorizados. Hay dos niveles de permisos – el primer nivel es para darnos permiso para compartir los videos con otros investigadores y el segundo nivel es para dar permiso para que investigadores puedan usar porciones o imágenes en presentaciones y conferencias. Este formulario explica todo lo que le he dicho. Ya que usted y [CHILD] están en el video, por favor marque ‘si’ o ‘no’ para cada nivel para usted y para [CHILD] y luego firme. - When finished, give mom a moment to look over each form and sign them.
- Make sure to get mom’s signature on the appropriate fields of the Databrary permission form.
- Anyone else in the home who appeared on video for any part of the study (i.e. a sibling or another parent during the house walkthrough) must also sign the Databrary permission form or have the mom sign on their behalf as their guardian.
- Say aloud to the camera the level of sharing the mom agreed to, for instance “Okay, so we have you down as agreeing to share with authorized researchers (/and also sharing excerpts). Thanks so much!” This will allow a double check on the sharing permission for the session.
- Select “Save Draft” on KoBoToolbox (see documentation PDF
)