Children’s response accuracy: examining the effect of activity engagement, age, language proficiency, and time elapse

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to examine the effect of activity engagement, age, language proficiency, and time elapse on children’s response accuracy to adult’s questions. A total of 70, 3- to 6-year-old children participated in the study, engaging in a story-telling activity, a proficiency test, and two interviews. Additionally, 57 of these children participated in a delayed interview about the same event one week later. The findings indicated that children’s language proficiency has a significant impact on the accuracy of their answers. Moreover, age appeared to contribute to children’s response accuracy. However, children’s activity engagement and the one-week time elapse did not significantly influence the accuracy of their recall. Results suggest that interviewers should consider children’s age and linguistic proficiency levels while conducting interviews. This research contributes to the existing literature on factors affecting children’s response accuracy.