Normative congruence between 1967 and 2002 adaptations of age scale for Indian urban children

Abstract

Standardized psychometric instruments used in clinical settings require periodic revalidation and recalibration of its norm to prevent obsolescence. The original Indian adaptation for Bombay-Karnatak Version of Binet-Simon Intelligence Scales on Dharwad children, developed in the 1930s, revalidated in the 1960s, was again reappraised in 2002 only. The time is ripe for undertaking another round of relook into this continually popular instrument for the assessment of intelligence in Indian children. This study seeks to undertake a contemporary appraisal of 1967 vis-a-vis its 2002 version of the age scale for its stability or power for intellectual estimation item analysis, inter-correlation between Basal Age (BA), Terminal Age (TA), Mental Age (MA) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) measures. A random sample of 42 primary school children from private schools in the age group of 6 to 8 years (Mean Age: 6.7 years; SD: 0.51) from Urban, High Socio-Economic (HSE) family background in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, were enlisted. The results depict a shift in sample Mean IQ derived from the present sample using Bombay-Karnatak Intelligence Scale (1967) norms as compared to that of (2002) norms. Further, the trend in the scores depicts similar direction, pointing to the resilience of this instrument even after decades of use. A major limitation of this study is the small sample size. A try-out on a larger heterogenous group of children for item analysis would make this scale a more robust measure of intelligence for our population.