Rasch analysis of the Clam/Angry Measure of social conflict situations for preschool children

Measurement is important to the study of children because it provides relevant information for considering issues and addressing problems. The Rasch measurement model connects concepts to indicators on a scale where measures go from low to high and item difficulties are arranged from easy to hard. This concept of measurement has not been very popular in early childhood. This study is a pilot study to construct a Clam/Angry Measure using the Rasch Measurement Model. Fifty eight six-year-old children ‘s emotional reactions in each of five social conflict situations were recorded. Children were asked to name their feeling experience for the situations and then indicate the intensity of the feeling by pointing to a number on a scale (1 to 3), the higher the number meant the stronger they feel of the emotion. The data were then analyzed using the RUMM 2030 computer program. Results showed that the measure is unidimensional, there is good item and person fits to the Rasch measurement model, the response categories are used consistently and logically and the targeting is acceptable, but can be improved. The two adverse aspects are the low Separation Index that occurred because of the low number of persons (N=58) and the low number of items (N=5) and the non-ideal targeting of items against person measures (insufficient easy, medium and hard items). Copyright © 2014 University of Jyväskylä.