Planned missing data in early literacy interventions: A replication study with an additional gold standard

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Educational Psychology
• Research Methodology

Background:

• Late preterm infants in digital early literacy interventions showed varied outcomes.
• Replication of previous findings was complicated by the quality of assessment measures used.
• Gold standard measures, while sensitive, are often time-intensive and costly.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of different definitions of "gold standard" measures on the replication of digital early literacy intervention results.
• To explore how measure precision affects the reliability of findings in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 695 primary school pupils (normal and late preterm birth).
• Comparison of simpler, complete measures with high-quality, potentially incomplete "gold standard" measures in a subsample.
• Evaluation of five different definitions of gold standard alignment.

Main Results:

• Two out of five gold standard definitions improved precision compared to original results.
• The least precise gold standard definition diminished precision.
• Only the most precise gold standard definition successfully replicated the original study findings.
• Specific factors like alphabetical and writing-only measures yielded comparable estimates to original results.

Conclusions:

• The successful replication of RCT results using gold standard measures is contingent upon sufficiently high convergent validity.
• Careful selection and definition of high-quality measures are crucial for reliable research outcomes in early literacy interventions.