The evaluation of the reliability of the motor-free visual perceptual test (Third Edition) when translated into Afrikaans, on an Afrikaans first language urban population (East of Pretoria, South Africa) aged 8 years 0 months to 8 years 11 months

Abstract

A comparative study was undertaken to assess the reliability of the MVPT-3 when the instructions were translated into Afrikaans and the scores were then compared to the normative data obtained during the standardization process on a normal population of American children. The study was undertaken by testing 80 randomly selected, normally distributed, Afrikaans first language speaking eight year old children from the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, South Africa. The study confirmed that the MVPT-3 is reliable when the instructions are given in Afrikaans with a Chonbach’s alpha score of 0.79 compared to 0.83 obtained for the American population. The item analysis revealed some anomalies that suggest that the test may have a cultural bias as many items had a negative sign in the item analysis. Afrikaans girls and boys performed differently on the test, suggesting that the test may need to be adjusted for differing skills in the visual perception. There were a high number of non-contributing items that suggest that some items in the test may not be valid for South African Children.