Inter-rater reliability as a reflection of ambiguity in the communication of deaf and normally-hearing children

This study involves (a) procedures for coding intentionality and communicat ive function from the behavior of young children, (b) determining inter-rat er reliability on those decisions, and (c) making judgments about which dat a to use for presentation and analysis. Communication data from videotaped interactions of 48 deaf and 96 normally-hearing children (12-54 months of a ge) and their mothers were obtained from two independent coders. As predict ed, the percent-agreement between coders was higher for older children and for hearing children compared to deaf children. It is argued that the ambig uity reflected in poor coder agreement for less skilled communicators may r epresent the extent to which these children are understood. It is suggested that for such children data analysis should be restricted to those behavio rs on which two independent coders agree. (C) 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.