Child Care

How Is Child Care Quality Measured 3

Last Updated Oct 6, 2008 03:29 PM

Relations between structural and caregiver characteristics and process quality are well-documented in the research literature.

Table 1 is a compilation of the studies conducted in the United States that have considered this issue.

The table includes information regarding sample size, type of care setting, the structural and caregiver characteristics that were measured, the process quality measures that were collected, and findings that were obtained. As indicated in Table 1, some studies have considered bivariate relations between structural and caregiver characteristics, and process quality using Pearson correlations and t-tests. Other studies (Blau, in press; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1996, in press-a; Phillipsen, Burchinal, Howes, and Cryer, 1997) utilized multiple regression techniques in an effort to isolate the relative impact of different characteristics. As documented on the table, the multivariate results are consistent with the bivariate and global composite analyses. As is evident in Table 1, studies have considered both global composites of structural and caregiver characteristics and individual factors in relation to process quality (Howes, 1990; Vandell and Powers, 1983).

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