The relationship between the development of conceptual thinking and children’s responses to different question types

Abstract

One of the most important qualitative changes in children’s development is linguistically mediated thinking, i.e., the acquisition of language which also has an effect on the development of conceptual thinking. During investigative interviews, children can be asked questions that may be difficult to understand. In this study, the relationship between ages, development of conceptual thinking and children’s responses to different question types was examined. Twenty 7-year-olds, twenty 10-year-olds and twenty 13-year-olds participated in an experiment where they watched a short video clip and a week after were interviewed about the event and tested using the structure of word meaning test (SWMT). Age and SWMT score were positively associated. The level of conceptual thinking better predicted children’s inaccurate responses to suggestive and option-posing questions than age. Knowing the level of conceptual thinking may help the interviewer to choose more developmentally appropriate questions to clarify what the child experienced. This can be especially important when interviewing children who may have had relatively little contact with formal education and thus may respond very differently to what the interviewer expects.

Keywords:

• child development
• scientific concepts
• question types
• children’s testimonies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.