Measuring thinking style in children

Despite the growing interest in differences in thinking (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 1999), much less is known about individual differences in the way children choose to think about and understand the world around them. Problematically, the literature focused on understanding different ways of thinking is plagued with a multitude of conceptualizations and models (Furnham, 2001; Kozhevnikov, 2007; Rayner, 2000; Roodenburg, 2003), making it difficult to identify how to best explore and capture different ways of thinking in children. The current project aims to address this issue by firstly reviewing current theoretical models to adopt a framework that focuses on individual differences in thinking as a construct that is stable between contexts and time. Secondly, through the development of a self-report questionnaire, Ways of Thinking in Children (WOTC), this project will aim to identify whether we can capture different ways of thinking in children (7-12 years of age) and if these differences resemble theoretical models available for adults. The development of the WOTC presents additional challenges pertaining to children’s cognitive development (Gelman & Baillargeon, 1983), ability to use response formats (Chambers & Johnston, 2002; Mellor & Moore, 2014; van Laerhoven, van Der Zaag-Loonen, & Derkx, 2004) and level of language comprehension. The project will therefore aim to construct a measure by consulting a panel of experts, trialing a branching scale response format, gathering qualitative data from a pilot study and then subjecting the final questionnaire to factor analysis. This second stage of the project can further enhance our understanding of ways we can develop and employ self-report questionnaires with children.