The development and implementation of a rhythmic ability test designed for four-year-old preschool children

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Robert Harvey McDowell (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Walter L. Wehner

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a test designed to measure the rhythmic ability of four-year-old preschool children and to study the effects of training on posttest scores of the age-group. The forty-item test has four ten-item subtests which measure the following: the ability to differentiate whether or not two tempi are the same, the ability to accurately produce a given tempo, the ability to accurately reproduce a given rhythm pattern, and the ability to determine if two rhythms are alike. The preliminary form of the test was revised to improve the item discrimination and item difficulty. The new test form was given to a total of 46 four-year-olds. The split-half test reliabilities ranged from .86 to .89 for these subjects. The Pearson product-moment formula in conjunction with the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula was used to compute the correlation. The test-retest reliability for the scores of 36 of these subjects who took the test twice was .45; however, there was an intervening variable for 24 of the subjects and the correlation yielded through the Pearson product-moment formula was not significant at .05.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1974
Subjects
Rhythm in children $x Ability testing

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