Description
This was a modified version of the Maths and Reading Questionnaire web activity that was used in the 10 Year web study. The 15 original questionnaire items were retained from the 10 Year version to the Wave 1 version of the 12 Year activity. However in Wave 2 of the 12 Year web study, 5 items were removed and 12 new items were added, bringing the total number of items to 22. For the items that were retained from Wave 1 to Wave 2, the ordering was changed, and there were some minor changes to the wording. For full details, see the table of questionnaire items further down this page.
The Author Recognition Test also was adapted from the version used in the 10 Year study. A different list of authors was used, but the number of authors, and the rules of the test, remained unchanged (see the test rules and the list of authors below).
This web activity consists of 22 environmental questionnaire items (15 items in wave 1), followed by the Author Recognition Test (which is effectively the last item). The questionnaire items were presented in ascending order of item number (but note that this order changed from wave 1 to wave 2). There was no special timeout rule for this test, so the default timeout of 5 minutes applied to each item. See the summary of 12 Year web tests for more details.
The questionnaire items related to the twin's experiences of reading and mathematics, both at home and at school. For each item, the twin was asked to click on the best response from a set of options presented on screen. The questionnaire items are tabulated in full near the bottom of this page.
Author Recognition Test Rules
Note that there are no branching or discontinue rules for this simple test. The test appears on screen in a single web page, as a rectangular list of 42 names as shown here:
21 of them are genuine names of popular authors of children's books. The other 21 are dummy names. The author names are numbered 1-42, from left to right and then from top to bottom in the list above. The numbering is made more explicit in the table of authors at the bottom of this page. The twin is asked to identify the genuine authors by clicking on the names, then clicking on "OK" to confirm the final choice. The twins are allowed to click on as many or as few author names as they wish, from 0 to 42.
The default timeout rule of 5 minutes applied to this test (which effectively appeared on screen as a single item). See the summary of 12 Year web tests for more details of timing out.
In the raw item responses (variables lar01an1/2 to lar42an1/2, see below), each author is coded 1 if selected or 0 if not selected for each twin.
Scores for this test are described on the derived variables page.
Item Variables
The item variables relating to the Maths and Reading Questionnaire, and to the Author Recognition test, as listed in the table below, were generated automatically by programs on the web server. Note that the dataset only includes data for completed tests (the Maths and Reading Questionnaire plus Author Recognition Test together count as a single web test for this purpose). If a twin started the test but left it unfinished, then the data for the test were not used.
Note that the Author Recognition Test was originally incorporated into the Maths and Reading Questionnaire, as the final item (item 16). The Author Recognition variables in the dataset have their own prefix (lar) rather than being named as items 16 of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire start and end dates and times, item answer and download times, and Author Recognition raw item scores, have not been retained in the dataset.
The prefixes for individual items of the questionnaire are shown further down this page in the table of questionnaire items.
| Variables | Explanation | Values |
|---|---|---|
| lqnstat1/2 | Activity status: outcome of web questionnaire | 0=not started, 1=started but not finished, 2=successfully completed |
| lqndata1/2 | Data flag: is web questionnaire data present in the dataset? | 0=no, 1=yes |
| lqXXXan1/2 * | Questionnaire item response (see table of items below for details) | Numeric category codes 1-2, 1-3, 1-4 or 1-5 depending on item |
| larstat1/2 | Activity status: outcome of Author Recognition test | 0=not started, 2=successfully completed, 4=completed randomly or with little effort |
| lardata1/2 | Data flag: is Author Recognition test data present in the dataset? | 0=no, 1=yes |
| lar01an1/2 through to lar42an1/2 | Item responses for sub-items (authors numbered 1-42) in the Author Recognition Test | 1=selected, 0=not selected |
| lqnsess1/2 | Number of sessions (at the computer) used by the twin to complete the questionnaire/test. | Integer values of 1 or above |
| lqntime1/2 | Time taken to complete the questionnaire/test, in seconds | Integer values (number of seconds) |
| lqnstdt1/2 | Start date of the questionnaire/test [not in dataset] | Date values |
| lqnsttm1/2 | Start time of the questionnaire/test [not in dataset] | Time values |
| lqnendt1/2 | End date of the questionnaire/test [not in dataset] | Date values |
| lqnentm1/2 | End time of the questionnaire/test [not in dataset] | Time values |
| lqXXXat1/2 * | Answer time for questionnaire item: length of time (in seconds) taken by the twin to respond to this item [not in dataset] | Integer values (number of seconds) |
| lqXXXdt1/2 * | Download time for questionnaire item: length of time (in seconds) between the end of the previous item and the start of this item; time needed to download files for this item [not in dataset] | Integer values (number of seconds) |
| lqartat1/2 | Answer time for Author Recognition test: length of time (in seconds) taken by the twin to select authors and click on OK [not in dataset] | Integer values (number of seconds) |
| lqartdt1/2 | Download time for Author Recognition test: length of time (in seconds) between the end of the previous questionnaire item and the start of this test; time needed to download files for this item [not in dataset] | Integer values (number of seconds) |
| lar01sc1/2 through to lar42sc1/2 | Item scores for sub-items (authors numbered 1-42) in the Author Recognition Test [not in dataset] | 1=correct (genuine author selected), 0=incorrect (dummy author selected) |
* XXX identifies the questionnaire item: variable name prefixes are shown in the table below.
Questionnaire Items
The item variable prefix, shown in the table below, is the first part of the name of the item variables as described above. The response numbers in the table headings (1-5) equate to the value coding used in the item response variables.
The item number denotes the order in which items were presented to twins in the questionnaire. Note however that this order changed from wave 1 to wave 2 (see first two columns of table).
| wave 2 item | wave 1 item | item variable prefix | question | response 1 | response 2 | response 3 | response 4 | response 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 1 | lqcom | Is there a computer at home that you use? | Yes | No | - | - | - |
| - | 2 | lqnew | Does your family get any newspapers or magazines regularly? | Yes | No | Don't know | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | lqtvh | On a school day, how many hours do you usually watch TV or videos/DVDs outside of school? | None | 1 hour or less | 2 or 3 hours | More than 3 hours | - |
| 2 | 5 | lqtlk | How often do you talk about things you have studied in school with someone in your family? | Never or hardly ever | Once every week | About once a week | Two or three times a week | Every day |
| 3 | 6 | lqma1 | In school, how often do you do maths problems from text books? | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 4 | 7 | lqma2 | In school, how often do you solve maths problems with a partner or in small groups? | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 5 | 8 | lqma3 | In school, how often do you work with objects like rulers, counting blocks, or stopwatches? | Never or hardly ever | Once every month (changed from "Once or twice a month" after wave 1) | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 6 | 9 | lqma4 | In school, how often do you talk with other students during class about how you solved a maths problem? | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| - | 10 | lqma5 | How much time do you usually spend each day on maths homework? | None | 15 minutes | 30 minutes | 45 minutes or more | - |
| 7 | 11 | lqr01 | How often do you talk with your
family* about something that you’ve read? (* changed from "friends or family" to "family" after wave 1) | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 8 | 12 | lqr02 | How often do you read books* for fun
outside of school? (* changed from "stories or poems" to "books" after wave 1) | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 9 | 13 | lqr03 | On average*, how many pages a day do
you read? (* "On average" was only added after wave 1) | None | 1-5 | 6-10 | More than 10 | - |
| - | 14 | lqr04 | In class, how often do you have to talk about something that you have read? | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| - | 15 | lqr05 | In class, how often do you write about something that you have read? | Never or hardly ever | Once or twice a month | Once or twice a week | Almost every day | - |
| 10 | 4 | lqbks | How many books are there in your home? | Few (0-10) | Enough to fill one shelf (11-25) | Enough to fill one bookcase (26-100) | Enough to fill several bookcases (more than 100) | - |
| 11 | - | lqr06 | How true about you is the following
sentence? When I read books, I learn a lot | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 12 | - | lqr07 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I enjoy spending time by myself reading | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 13 | - | lqr08 | How true about you is the following
sentence? Reading is one of my favourite activities | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 14 | - | lqr09 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I read books in my free time | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 15 | - | lqr10 | How true about you is the following
sentence? If the teacher discusses something interesting, I might read more about it | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 16 | - | lqr11 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I read to learn new information about topics that interest me | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 17 | - | lqr12 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I read about my hobbies to find out more about them | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 18 | - | lqr13 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I have favourite subjects that I like to read about | This is a lot like me | This is a little bit like me | This is not at all like me | - | - |
| 19 | - | lqr14 | How true about you is the following
sentence? If I am reading about an interesting topic, I sometimes lose track of time | This is a lot like me | This is a little bit like me | This is not at all like me | - | - |
| 20 | - | lqr15 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I read because I have to | This is a lot like me | This is a little bit like me | This is not at all like me | - | - |
| 21 | - | lqr16 | How true about you is the following
sentence? I feel like I make friends with people in good books | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
| 22 | - | lqr17 | How true about you is the following
sentence? If a book is interesting, I don’t care how hard it is to read – I’ll try to read it anyway | Never | Only sometimes | Often | Most of the time | - |
Author Recognition Items
The numbering of the author names (1-42), shown in the table below, is the same as the numbering in the item variables (larXXan1/2 for the responses, larXXsc1/2 for the scores, where XX = 01 to 42).
| No. | Name | Author | Score if selected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Swindells | genuine | 1 |
| 2 | Lemony Snicket | genuine | 1 |
| 3 | Tom Oxenbury | dummy | 0 |
| 4 | Pamela Yeadon | dummy | 0 |
| 5 | Allan Ahlberg | genuine | 1 |
| 6 | Gillian Cross | genuine | 1 |
| 7 | Kelly Mallows | dummy | 0 |
| 8 | P.E. Davies | dummy | 0 |
| 9 | Barbara Braxton | dummy | 0 |
| 10 | Philip Pullman | genuine | 1 |
| 11 | Helen Andrews | dummy | 0 |
| 12 | Michael Morpurgo | genuine | 1 |
| 13 | C.S. Lewis | genuine | 1 |
| 14 | Roald Dahl | genuine | 1 |
| 15 | Brian Jacques | genuine | 1 |
| 16 | Robin Jarvis | genuine | 1 |
| 17 | C.I. James | dummy | 0 |
| 18 | Bob Ackers | dummy | 0 |
| 19 | Terry Deary | genuine | 1 |
| 20 | Michelle Barker | dummy | 0 |
| 21 | Jayne Chandler | dummy | 0 |
| 22 | Dick-King Smith | genuine | 1 |
| 23 | J.K. Rowling | genuine | 1 |
| 24 | David Almond | genuine | 1 |
| 25 | Stephanie Pursglove | dummy | 0 |
| 26 | Robert Westall | genuine | 1 |
| 27 | Rosalind Miller | dummy | 0 |
| 28 | R. L. Stine | genuine | 1 |
| 29 | Faye Coomber | dummy | 0 |
| 30 | Eric Lawson | dummy | 0 |
| 31 | Anthony Horowitz | genuine | 1 |
| 32 | Celia Eccleshare | dummy | 0 |
| 33 | Neil Smith | dummy | 0 |
| 34 | Jacqueline Wilson | genuine | 1 |
| 35 | Terry Pratchett | genuine | 1 |
| 36 | Leighton Jell | dummy | 0 |
| 37 | Anne Fine | genuine | 1 |
| 38 | Myra Kersner | dummy | 0 |
| 39 | Raymond Briggs | genuine | 1 |
| 40 | John Klosterman | dummy | 0 |
| 41 | John Shelmadine | dummy | 0 |
| 42 | Marielle Van Veen | dummy | 0 |