Latent Class Analysis Of Chinese Children's Rule Use On The Balance Scale Task

The balance scale task has been studied by developmental psychologists.The aim of this study were to explore the latent structure of Chinese children's performance on the balance scale taskIn the first section,I review psychological studies using the balance scale task,including a description of Siegler's(1976) rule assessment methodology(RAM).A critical analysis is provided based on problems RAM and the four rules proposed by Siegler.This problem can be solved by latent class analysis by which we can test statistically how many rules are needed to fit the data and which these rules are.Then I introduce the history and principle of latent class analysis, and several common software for conducting latent class analysis.In the second section, A test made of 25 items which belong to five different type of balance scale task, was developed for the present research. The 461 Chinese children aged 6 years to 15 years finished the test and the data was analyzed through latent class approach. Results showed that the children used some rules different from the four rules proposed by Siegler in finishing the balance scale task. By combining different types of items, the children were grouped through latent class analysis and seven latent classes were found. Those latent classes were distinct from each other in responding pattern. Finally, the rules utilized by Chinese children are discussed and compared to foreign researcher's findings. The advantages and shortcomings of latent class analysis are also discussed.