Assessing Children's Competence in Computer Interactions: Preliminary Reliability and Validity of the Test of Mouse Proficiency

Abstract

The Test of Mouse Proficiency (TOMP) was developed to assist occupational therapists and education professionals assess computer mouse competency skills in children from preschool to upper primary (elementary) school age. The preliminary reliability and validity of TOMP are reported in this paper. Methods used to examine the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion- and construct-related validity of the test are elaborated. In the continuing process of test refinement, these preliminary studies support to varying degrees the reliability and validity of TOMP. Recommendations for further validation of the assessment are discussed along with indications for potential clinical application.

Keywords

children technology mouse human-computer interface

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Altaian

D.G.

(1991). Practical statistics for medical research. London: Chapman and Hall.

Anastasi

, & Urbina

(1997). Psychological testing. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Beery

K.E.

, & Buktenica

N.A.

(1989). Developmental test of visualmotor integration. (3rd rev.). Parsippany, NJ: Modern Curriculum Press.

Guiard

(1993). On Fitt's and Hooke's laws: Simple harmonic movement in upper-limb cyclical aiming. Acta Psychologica, 82, 139–159.

Hair

J.F.

Jr. Anderson

R.E.

Tatham

R.L.

, & Black

W.C.

(1995). Multivariate data analysis. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Lane

(1999). Of mice and minors: Developing a profile of children's mouse competence. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Department of Occupational Therapy, The University of Queensland.

Lane

, & Dennis

(2000). The Test of Mouse Proficiency (computer software). Brisbane, Australia.

Lane

, & Ziviani

(1997). Of mice and minors: Identifying competence in children's use of the computer mouse. In Tosh

(Ed.), Proceedings of the 19th National Conference of the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists. Vol. 1. Perth, Western Australia: Australian Association of Occupational Therapists.

Lane

, & Ziviani

(2002). Enabling computer access: Introduction to the test of mouse proficiency. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 22, 111–118.

10.

Murphy

K.R.

, & Davidshofer

C.O.

(1998). Psychological testing: Principles and applications. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

11.

Norûsis

M.J.

(1990). SPSS base system user's guide. Chicago: SPSS, Inc.

12.

Ottenbacher

K.J.

, & Tomchek

S.D.

(1993). Reliability analysis in therapeutic research: Practice and procedures. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47, 10–16.

13.

Portney

L.G.

, & Watkins

M.P.

(2000). Foundations of clinical research: Applications to practice. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Health.

14.

Rosenbaum

D.A.

(1991). Human motor control. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.

15.

SPSS Base 8.0 Applications Guide. (1998). Chicago: SPSS, Inc.

16.

Strommen

E.F.

Revelle

G.L.

Medoff

L.M.

, & Razavi

(1996). Slow and steady wins the race? Three-year-old children and pointing device use. Behaviour and Information Technology, 15, 57–64.

17.

Tabachnick

B.G.

, & Fidell

L.S.

(1996). Using multivariate statistics. (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.

18.

Warm

J.P.

(1987). Trends in the refinement and optimization of fine-motor trajectories: Observations from and analysis of the handwriting of primary school children. Journal of Motor Behavior, 19, 13–37.