Developmental Ordering, Scale Types, and Strong Inference

• Published in: Developmental psychology 1998-01, Vol.34 (1), p.131-145
• Main Author: Dixon, James A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Child Development; Child Development - physiology; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Concept Formation - physiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data Analysis; Developmental Psychology; Developmental Sequences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human Development; Humans; Hypothesis Testing; Inferences; Methodology. Experimentation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics. Statistics. Methodology; Rating Scales; Ratio Scales; Research Methodology; Research Problems; Statistical analysis; Statistical Data; Statistical Inference
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.34.1.131

Developmental ordering, 1 item preceding another in development, is a primary piece of evidence in developmental research. However, testing developmental ordering hypotheses is remarkably difficult; the problem is that researchers rarely have absolute measures (ratio scales). Therefore, directly comparing 2 measures is often not sensible. This article demonstrates that, depending on the type of scale, the observed data pattern is constrained by the underlying relationship. Although the observed data pattern may not reflect the exact relationship, it does limit the possible relationships. Researchers can use this information to reject potential underlying relationships. An application of the method of strong inference ( J. R. Platt, 1964 ) is outlined whereby researchers can use observed data patterns to systematically reject competing developmental ordering hypotheses. The approach requires only standard statistical methods and assumptions.