Bilateral tests for the assessment of manipulative skills in children: Development, reliability, and validity

Abstract

Purpose. the aim of the study was to develop bilateral tests for simultaneous quantitative and qualitative assessment of manipulative skills among 7-year-old children, and to examine the reliability and validity of the tests. Methods. A sample of 78 (35 girls) children (aged 7.34 ± 0.53 years) were tested with 3 novel bilateral tests: Standing ball throwing, Bouncing the ball standing, and Dribbling the ball with the foot. Subsequently, the reliability and validity of the constructed tests were investigated. Results. Very high between-participant reliability was demonstrated through high and stable Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.94–0.98 for all tests), while relatively small coefficients of variation (0.03–0.12 for all tests) were observed. High values of correlation between expert judges’ ratings, as well as intra-class correlation, for both left and right sides indicated excellent between-rater reliability (0.84–0.99 and 0.88–0.93 across all tests, respectively). Conclusions. the tests are reliable and valid in 7-year-old children and may be used to promote the adoption of appropriate sport and physical activities. Future research should explore the influence of further fine and gross motor skills on motor development.