A validation study of the Keyboard Personal Computer Style instrument (K-PeCS) for use with children

This study examines a potential instrument for measurement of typing postures of children. This paper describes inter-rater, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Keyboard Personal Computer Style instrument (K-PeCS), an observational measurement of postures and movements during keyboarding, for use with children. Two trained raters independently rated videos of 24 children (aged 7-10 years). Six children returned one week later for identifying test-retest reliability. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing ratings obtained using the K-PECS to scores from a 3D motion analysis system. Inter-rater reliability was moderate to high for 12 out of 16 items (Kappa: 0.46 to 1.00; correlation coefficients: 0.77-0.95) and test-retest reliability varied across items (Kappa: 0.25 to 0.67; correlation coefficients: r = 0.20 to r = 0.95). Concurrent validity compared favourably across arm pathlength, wrist extension and ulnar deviation. In light of the limitations of other tools the K-PeCS offers a fairly affordable, reliable and valid instrument to address the gap for measurement of typing styles of children, despite the shortcomings of some items. However further research is required to refine the instrument for use in evaluating typing among children.