Comparison of Observational Methods and Their Relation to Ratings of Engagement in Young Children

Although, collectively, results of earlier direct observation studies suggest momentary time sampling (MTS) may offer certain technical advantages over whole-interval (WIR) and partial-interval (PIR) recording, no study has compared these methods for measuring engagement in young children in naturalistic environments. This study compared direct observations of child engagement using WIR, PIR, and MTS methods to continuous duration recording (CDR), using measurement error, correlations, and inter-observer agreement. Results indicated that MTS consistently demonstrated measurements closer to CDR compared with PIR and WIR, although in this study, the differences between MTS and PIR across indicators were not as great as has been demonstrated in the literature. WIR, PIR, and MTS were all strongly correlated with CDR, although there were issues with under and overestimations. Finally, the four observational methods were all moderately to strongly correlated with expert ratings of engagement, although none was significantly correlated with teacher rankings of classroom engagement.