Empowering Young Minds: Adapting the Sense of Self Questionnaire for Primary School Children

Prompt

Introduction Sense of Self (SoS) can be broadly defined as an individual’s awareness of who they are, as characterised by their thoughts, feelings and perceptions (Baumeister, 1999). While theorists agree that SoS is a multifaceted construct encapsulating both the inner experience and outer world (McAdams et al., 2021), beyond this, there is not yet a consensual framework for conceptualising the self (Robins, 2021). Good measures are central to almost every aspect of psychology (Clark & Watson, 2019; Forshaw, 2007; Raykov, 1997) and important contributions to the field are made through scale development for new measures of psychological constructs. However, the reality of a scale representing a single construct, or having ‘unidimensionality’, is a rarely met assumption (Field, 2024). Instead, most scales capture multidimensional constructs with a pattern of intercorrelations. As such, current measures for assessing SoS in childhood focus on specific aspects of the self, including, self-understanding (Damon & Hart, 1982), self-perception (Harter, 1985) and self-concept (Marsh, 1990). While measures vary based on the different domains of SoS, research has consistently highlighted a link between aspects of SoS in childhood and improved psychological wellbeing (Schwartz et al., 2013), peer relations (Deković & Meeus, 1997) and academic outcomes (Jansen et al., 2024). Measuring SoS in childhood is therefore both important and complicated and relies on self-report measures due to the nature of SoS as an internal state that only the individual can verify (Clark and Watson, 2019). This is especially problematic when developing measures for young children. However, previous research has demonstrated that a child centred approach and appropriate language can allow self-report measures to be accessible for children as young as four years old (Mulligan et al., 2023). As such, a participatory action research (PAR) methodology was chosen, due to a child centred approach being central to designing accessible questionnaires for young children. PAR is inquiry-based research that emphasises active engagement from participants to support real world application of knowledge from the collective group as part of a collaborative process (De Oliveira, 2023; Gergen & Gergen, 2015). The focus of doing research ‘with people and not to people’ (Armstrong & Tsokova, 2019, p.59) emphasises the social constructionist view that knowledge is constructed through relationships and community therefore placing value on collaboration. PAR supports the creation of a safe environment in which everyone is heard and valued (De Oliveira, 2023). Given the established links between SoS and academic, wellbeing and social outcomes (Jansen et al., 2024; Schwartz et al., 2013; Deković & Meeus, 1997), the aim of this study was to adapt the Wild InnerSense SoS questionnaire, designed by Harris (2024) and validated by Nagle et al (2025), to be accessible for use with Year 2 children, in UK primary schools using a PAR approach. Method Ethics The approval for this research was obtained from the Faculty Ethics Committee of University of Southampton (ERGO II; submission ID: 101272). The confidentiality of the data was maintained and only the researchers had access to the data. Epistemology This body of work is underpinned by a social constructionist framework. Social constructionism assumes that knowledge is a dynamic construct that individuals co-create through social interactions and real-world experiences (Andrews, 2012). Language is key to the construction of knowledge through social origins by providing an instrument to collaborate with others (Gergen & Gergen, 2015). Similarly, Burr (1995) suggested language supports the construction of concepts and provides shared meaning and understanding to experience. Participants and Recruitment Participating schools were identified and recruited through existing professional links held by the project supervisor within one local authority in the south of England. Two schools were initially approached who had participated in Harris’s (2024) original study; however, they were unable to commit due to limited capacity. Three further schools were then approached and agreed to take part: two completed the study; and the third school was withdrawn as it was not possible to confirm a mutually suitable date. Participant information sheets and opt out consent forms were disseminated to parents through the participating schools. Three parents from the second school returned opt out forms: therefore, their children were not included in the study. No payments or incentives were given. The final sample consisted of 24 Year 2 students (aged 6–7 years), from two primary schools, purposively selected by class teachers to ensure diversity in ability, gender and ethnicity. Children were organised into groups of six, resulting in a total of four focus groups across both schools. Verbal assent from each child was gained after the purpose of the study and their right to withdraw was explained in age-appropriate language following the focus group script (see Appendix B). Two pairs of researchers facilitated the sessions in each school, with each pair responsible for one subscale of the questionnaire. To maintain continuity each researcher kept the same role, of either lead facilitator or support and notetaker, across both schools. Sessions lasted between 45 minutes and one hour and were conducted in small, quiet teaching spaces within the schools. All children were thanked by the researchers and received a certificate following their participation. Participatory Action Research Cycle Participatory action research (PAR) was used to collaboratively explore and adapt the language of the validated Wild InnerSense Sense of Self questionnaire for use with Year 2 children in UK primary schools. Kemmis and McTaggart’s (2005) action research spiral was used to guide the research through their cyclical principles: planning a change, acting and observing, reflecting, replanning, acting and observing again and reflecting again. The cycle is repeated as many times as necessary to reach a collaborative consensus regarding the outcome of the research project. Phase 1 Planning a change Through the initial planning process, the researchers identified that the Wild InnerSense Sense of Self questionnaire had been initially designed for use with children in Years 3, 4 and 5 of UK primary schools. For the validated questionnaire to also be used with younger Year 2 children, it was agreed that the language would need to be explored and adapted to ensure that the questionnaire was accessible. In order to ensure consistency between focus groups, the researchers developed a focus group schedule (see Appendix A) with questions to elicit children’s understanding of each item. Acting and observing During the first cycle of participation, children were provided with a copy of the questionnaire and consulted regarding the formatting and whether they understood the items on the two subscales. The researchers worked collaboratively with the children as co-researchers to reword the questionnaire items, based on the children’s understanding and what made sense to them. Reflecting Following the first focus group the researchers met to discuss the changes made by the children to each item of the questionnaire. Adjustments included changes to the format such as removing the numbering from the Likert scale as the children confused it with the question numbers. Instead, visual images helped make response choices clearer. For example, the children supported their understanding of the Likert scale by initiating the use of thumbs up gestures. Thus, this strategy was adopted for the second focus groups. Several changes to the language were made where the original wording was not understood. Some phrases that were subtly figurative, such as ‘I can find ways…’ became ‘I know how to…’ which is more concrete. Unfamiliar or confusing words were also simplified, such as changing ‘feeling low’ to ‘upset’ and ‘growth’ to ‘learning’. Although some of the nuances of the original wording may have been lost, it was considered an acceptable compromise, given that unfamiliar words would render the questionnaire meaningless for younger children. The questions were amended prior to the second focus group (see Appendix B). It was also noted by the researchers that the children were becoming distracted when they were given paper and pens during the focus groups. The decision was made to remove these for the second focus groups. Phase 2 Replanning Prior to the second focus groups, the researchers created a visual of the Likert scale to support children with their understanding of the questionnaire. This included a demonstration of the thumbs up gestures. Children were asked to verbally say their names instead of writing them down and the questions were presented verbally. Acting and observing During the second cycle of participation, the revised questionnaire items were read aloud supported by a visual Likert scale and thumbs up gestures. The children discussed whether the questions made sense and reworded them where necessary. Three children chose to opt out during the self-regulation scale focus group. Reflecting Following the second focus group the researchers met and discussed the changes made to the questions across both iterations of the research cycle. There were few changes made to the items for either subscale in the second focus group (see Appendix B), indicating that the children were able to understand the questions and how to answer them. All changes proposed by the children at this stage of the research were retained by the researchers. The revised questions are displayed in the same order as they were presented in the original SoS scale to minimise potential differences in how the items relate to the subscales due to order or grouping variations. No items are reverse scored. All questionnaire items are scored on a Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, supported by visual thumbs up symbols (see Appendix C). Discussion The current study focussed on validating the Wild InnerSense SoS questionnaire and expanding its use for Year 2 children, aged 6-7 years. The study highlighted that the validated SoS questionnaire was not initially accessible for Year 2 children and the researchers worked collaboratively with the children to amend the language and formatting to ensure that the questions made sense to them; thus, making the revised questionnaire appropriate for use with Year 2 children. The use of participatory action research (PAR) highlights how scale development and research can be conducted in a collaborative way because this involved working ‘with people rather than on people’ (Armstrong & Tsokova, 2019, p.59). We empowered children to share their views which enriched the research process because knowledge was co-constructed by all participants of the focus group (De Oliveira, 2023). The PAR design allowed the researchers to ensure that the children’s voices were not only heard, but that they had an active role in co-creating the new questions for the revised questionnaire. The benefits of this approach were observed by the researchers through the second iteration of the research cycle whereby the adapted questions were easily understandable for the second focus groups and only minor changes were made to the wording at this stage. By working collaboratively with the focus groups, we created an adapted questionnaire making the language more accessible for use with younger children. The current study demonstrates that PAR methods can be used to adapt the language of existing measures to make them more accessible for use with younger children. The results contribute to the understanding of constructs that make up the sense of self. However, it should also be noted that the construct definitions in the original Wild InnerSense SoS questionnaire were not explicitly defined, thus, a limitation of this study was the inability to receive detailed feedback from the questionnaire developers on the validated questionnaire. This would have strengthened the PAR cycle because it would have led to greater confidence that the adapted questionnaire was still in line with the original intended meaning of the questions. Given that language and culture are always changing, “validity is an evolving property and validation a continuing process” (Messick, 1995, p. 741). Hence, future research could expand the use of the Wild InnerSense SOS questionnaire through further adaptation and revalidation for other age groups. Nonetheless, our findings begin to demonstrate that a child centred and collaborative approach can be valuable in developing accessible and meaningful measures of psychological constructs for younger children.

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