Project description
What do we examine?
How do children approach and communicate with a younger child or baby? How does a younger child behave and express themselves when an older kindergarten child approaches? To answer these questions, we bring kindergarten children and babies together and observe how these children of different ages, who are still strangers to each other, behave and interact with each other.
In addition, we ask you as a parent or guardian questions about your child's everyday behavior in order to be able to correctly assess their behavior in front of the camera. For example, we ask whether your child has experience with older or younger siblings or how much contact they have with other children in everyday life. It is particularly important to us that you as parents know that we observe children's behavior towards each other. We do not judge the behavior or any of the children, but want to understand the children and learn how they communicate with each other.
It is important to us that both the children and the parents/guardians feel comfortable in our premises. In addition to the study and camera room, which is deliberately kept free of stimuli, you therefore have the opportunity to breastfeed, feed or change your child in another quiet room at any time.
Participation and procedure
Who can take part?
We welcome infants and toddlers aged between 6 and 18 months as well as children aged between 3 and 6 years. You are also welcome to take part in our study more than once if you have several children in these age groups.
How can my child take part?
Have we piqued your interest? Please contact us by e-mail
stating your contact details. We will call you back and discuss everything else with you, arrange an appointment and answer your questions.
What do I get for taking part?
For participating in the study in the laboratory, you will receive a voucher worth €25 as a thank you for your time and to offset your travel costs. If you take part in the study at the daycare center, you will have the opportunity to take part in a prize draw for several vouchers worth €25 each. In both settings, your child will also receive a small, age-appropriate gift and a certificate of participation.
Everything at a glance
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Duration
01.09.2021 - 30.09.2026 (ongoing) -
Research area
Developmental Psychology -
Funding
Technology: Schools II, special funds, Higher Education Pact III (€36,924)
Personnel: Internal university research funding (€7,445) and the Developmental Psychology Section of the German Psychological Society (€500)
Where do the observations take place?
Adolf Reichwein Campus of the University of Siegen
On the one hand, the course can be held on our premises
at the University of Siegen. After arranging an individual appointment with you as a parent or guardian, we invite two families to attend consecutively. In this case, the end of the first family's appointment and the beginning of the second family's appointment overlap so that the two children only meet in front of the cameras.
After you have made an appointment, we will first send you the participation information again. We will also ask you to complete a questionnaire about your child's behavior at home in advance, for which we will provide you with an online link. All information is of course voluntary and anonymous. We will pick you up on site and discuss the test procedure with you in detail. Only then will you decide whether you and your child would like to take part in the study. If you agree, both children will meet in the camera room for about 10 to 15 minutes and can play together. With your consent, we will record this interaction. Afterwards, if your child is between three and six years old, we will carry out a few more playful activities with him or her, such as having him or her describe pictures.
Daycare centers; we come to your child
Our project team also visits day-care centers with mobile camera technology designed for young children, which is set up in a room separate from the normal activities. The advantages of conducting the study on site are that your child already knows the environment, can be accompanied by an educator and you do not have to travel to the university.
If you are interested in participating, you will receive the participation information in advance and will also have the opportunity to ask questions. Once you have handed in the signed declaration of consent at your childcare facility, we will carry out the same playful activities on site as during a visit to the Adolf Reichwein Campus and bring two children of different ages together again to observe their interaction. If you wish, you can be there as a parent, otherwise your child will be accompanied to the movie room by their teacher and then returned to their group. As a parent or guardian, you simply fill out the questionnaire from the comfort of your own home via an online link. This will take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes.
