‘Empathy & Pro-social’ At primary school entry, teachers rated the social behaviour of EPPE
children using the CSBQ. A factor analysis of the 45 items resulted in the extraction of 6
underlying factors. Primary school entry factor 5 measures the child’s ability to show empathy or
understanding for another child’s feelings and is termed ‘Empathy & Pro-social’.
Family factors Examples of family factors are mother’s qualifications, father’s employment and
family SES.
Factor scores Factor scores for each child were calculated by averaging the ratings given by the
teacher / pre-school centre worker for the questions that form each factor.
Hierarchical nature of the data Data that clusters into pre-defined sub-groups or levels within a
system (e.g. young children, pre-school centres, LEAs).
Home learning environment factors Measures derived from reports from parents (at interview)
about what children do at home, for example, playing with numbers and letters, singing songs
and nursery rhymes.
‘Independence & Concentration’ At primary school entry, teachers rated the social behaviour
of EPPE children using the CSBQ. A factor analysis of the 45 items resulted in the extraction of
6 underlying factors. Primary school entry factor 1 measures the child’s ability to play or work
independently showing a certain level of concentration and is termed ‘Independence &
Concentration’.
Intervention study A study in which researchers ‘intervene’ in the sample to control variables
i.e. control by setting, the adult / child ratios in order to compare different specific ratios in
different settings. EPPE is not an intervention study in that it investigates naturally occurring
variation in pre-school settings.
Intra-centre correlation The intra-centre correlation measures the extent to which the scores of
children in the same centre resemble each other as compared with those from children at
different centres. The intra-centre correlation provides an indication of the extent to which
unexplained variance in children’s progress (i.e. that not accounted for by prior attainment) may
be attributed to differences between pre-school settings. This gives an indication of possible
variation in pre-school effectiveness.
Language attainment Composite formed by adding together the scores for two of the BAS
assessments (naming vocabulary and verbal comprehension).
Multiple Disadvantage Based on three child variables, six parent variables, and one related to
the home learning environment, which were considered ‘risk’ indicators when looked at in
isolation. A child’s ‘multiple disadvantage’ was calculated by summing the number of indicators
the child was ‘at risk’ on.
Multilevel modelling A methodology that allows data to be examined simultaneously at different
levels within a system (e.g. young children, pre-school centres, LEAs), essentially a
generalisation of multiple regression.
Multiple regression A method of predicting outcome scores on the basis of the statistical
relationship between observed outcome scores and one or more predictor variables.
Net effect The unique contribution of a particular variable upon an outcome while other variables
are controlled.
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