Experimental Child Study
- Author:
Florence L. Goodenougli and John
Anderson. New York: The Century Co. (Century Psychology Series). 1931.
This book, while in the same series as the one discussed in the foregoing review, is quite unlike it, which of course is entirely proper. Described by the publishers as the first book of its kind, Experimental Child Study contains such a diversity of material that it is likely upon first examination to create an impression of incoherence and lack of unity?an impression of having been “thrown together.” Closer examination, however, serves largely to remove this impression. It is intended as a manual for classes of beginning students in experimental child study. The reader who takes up the book to learn something of the experimental findings of work in child study will find very
little. It is a manual of directions for child study, not a discussion of experimental results. The book is divided into three parts. The first part, much the shortest of the three, serves as an introduction, and gives a brief historical resume of child study. Modern methods of child study are outlined in a general way. The second and major part of the work is devoted to the description of actual experiments for class use and an outline of the methods of procedure to be followed. Forty-one such experiments are given. They are of great variety ranging from “sleep,” through “color discrimination” and “language development” to “extroversion and introversion” and “laughter” and “distribution of teacher’s time.” It is not expected that any class will be able to complete all the experiments, but a large number are given so that the instructor will be enabled to make the selection best suited to the particular needs of his class. Each experiment includes an outline of problems to be considered and references to the bibliography. In connection with the experiments there is a running exposition of statistical method; the aim is to acquaint the student with statistics by introducing gradually the methods of statistical treatment through actual application in the experiments. Thus the student progresses from the simple frequency distribution to the more complex problem of correlation, all the while employing his knowledge in practice. This is much to be commended. There are of course statistical manuals, but here the student has in the covers of one book both his experimental and statistical material. The final chapter of Part II gives a list of suggested problems for advanced students in child study. Part III discusses the available methods for collecting data in child study: incidental observations, case studies, the questionnaire, direct measurement, rating scales, etc. There is an extensive bibliography arranged in useful fashion. Appendices give a method of occupational classification, a scale for rating living room equipment, and a list of statistical formulae.
The success attending the use of this book will depend very much upon the skill of the instructor both in directing the experiments and in guiding their interpretation. To be of the greatest value, moreover, child study must, in our opinion, rest upon a knowledge of general psychology, and with this the student must be provided by his instructor or his reading. Miles Murphy m
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