Developing a Questionnaire to Measure Social, Tickle, and Contagious Yawning Behavior in Normally Developing Children and Children with Autism
Date
2008-10-19Type of Work
application/pdfText
theses
Department
PsychologyProgram
PsychologyRights
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Subjects
Psychology, General (0621)tickle
yawning
developmental disabilities
children
questionnaire
autism
Abstract
Tickle and contagious yawning are predictable behavior affected by social cues and context. Tickle and contagious yawning may be performed abnormally by children with autism or other special needs because they express a variety of social behavior abnormalities. The goal of this study was to develop a questionnaire that can be used to gather descriptive data about tickle and contagious yawning in normally developing children and children with autism or other special needs with the intent of identifying future areas of research in diagnosis and intervention. DeVellis's (2003) principles for scale construction were combined with Dillman's (2000) guidelines for questionnaire construction to guide the questionnaire development process. The questionnaire had low return rates and tickle and contagious yawning items did not form internally consistent scales. Despite these limitations, the questionnaire shows promise for use as a qualitative instrument.