A stage is a stage is a stage: a direct comparison of two scoring systems

Older Persons' Reasoning about Responsibility for Health: Variations and Predictions

With many Western societies structured for adults to live longer and take responsibility for their health, it is valuable to investigate how older persons reason about this demand. Using mixed methods, this pilot studied how older persons reason about responsibility for health and their responsibility as a patient. Interviews with a small Swedish sample of 65–84 year olds were analyzed for qualitative characteristics and quantitative complexity in reasoning. Using adult development theory, we predicted at least three different stages of performance in reasoning. Results indicated four different stages: two where there is no actual reasoning about health and responsibility, and two where reasoning does occur, each qualitatively different. Results suggest a long-standing blind spot in health studies, that older people do not comprehend responsibility issues in the same way. There are significant implications for closing this gap between demand to take responsibility and capabilities to do so.

“ Good Education Is… ” The Development of Evaluative Thought Across the Life Span

The author uses a cognitive developmental approach to investigate educational conceptions, addressing the question, How does evaluative reasoning about education change over the course of cognitive development? The author conducted independent analyses of the developmental level and conceptual content of 246 interview performances of individuals aged 5 to 86 years. The developmental level of the interview performances was assessed with a content-general scoring system, the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System. A Rasch analysis of the results revealed 6 developmental levels and provided support for invariant sequence, developmental spurts and plateaus, and similar developmental patterns for childhood and adulthood levels. The results of the subsequent analysis of the propositional content of the same interview texts were used to produce qualitative descriptions of changes in evaluative reasoning about education across the 6 levels identified in the data. Finally, descriptions constructed in this way, although richer and less prone to reification, were shown to be conceptually analogous to the stage definitions produced by other cognitive developmental researchers. The implications of the method and findings are discussed.