Magnitude estimation by children : a study of values

The purpose of this study was primarily to investigate the use of the method of magnitude estimation in the study of moral/value development. Fifty students from the kindergarten, second, fifth, eighth and twelfth grades of a local school system and their parents (n = 100) were chosen as subjects for this investigation.

The subjects were presented with written descriptions (oral for the kindergarten students) of "bad" behaviors. The topical guides for these behaviors were the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. Each subject was asked to indicate his/her perception of the degree of "badness" of each behavior by choosing a number (kindergarten students drew horizontal lines on paper). The larger the number or the longer the line, the worse that particular behavior was perceived to be.

The majority of the parents and students used a one to ten scale to rate the behaviors. The second and twelfth grade students were much more flexible in their choice of numbers and ranged from one to ten thousand. The difference in the choice of scales was problematic in terms of meaningful data analyses. Rank order comparisons between and among groups revealed significant differences for the twelfth grade students only.

This investigation must be considered a pilot study in the use of magnitude estimation with children. Questions remain as to the efficacy of using the number system with subjects below the fifth grade. The use of light or sound intensities for future cross-modality matching may be the method of choice for these subjects.