title: In Search of Matthew Effects in Reading.
abstract: The concept of Matthew effects in reading development refers to a longitudinally widening gap between high achievers and low achievers. Various statistical approaches have been proposed to examine this idea. However, little attention has been paid to psychometric issues of scaling. Specifically, interval-level data are required to compare performance differences across performance ranges, but only ordinal-level data are available with current literacy measures. To demonstrate the interpretability problems of contrasting growth slopes, we use data from a longitudinal study of literacy development. We explore the possibility of comparing across ages, matched for performance, and we examine the consequences of nonlinear growth, temporal lag estimates, and individual differences in developmental progression. We conclude that, although conceptually appealing, the widening gap prediction is not empirically testable.
authors.affiliation: University of Athens, Greece aprotopapas@phs.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: Athanassios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Protopapas
authors.affiliation: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: Rauno
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parrila
authors.affiliation: University of Crete, Herakleion, Greece.
authors.forename: Panagiotis G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Simos
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011932:Reading
keywords: longitudinal; methodological issues; reading; research method