2.4 Typical questions asked in child development

The emotional, social and physical development of the young child has a direct effect on the adult he or she will become. We may be interested in measuring child development for answering clinical, policy or public health questions.

Table 2.2: Questions whose answers require quantitative measurements of child development.
Level	Question
Individual	What is the child's gain in development since the last visit?
Individual	What is the difference in development between the child and peers of the same age?
Individual	How does the child's development compare to a norm?
Group	What is the effect of this intervention on child development?
Group	What is the difference in child development between these two groups?
Population	What is the change in average child development since the last measurement?
Population	What was the effect of implementing this policy on child development?
Population	How does this country compare to other countries in terms of child development?

Table 2.2 lists typical questions whose answers require measuring child development. Note that all questions compare the amount of child development between groups or time points. A few questions compare development for the same child, group or population at different ages. Others compare development at the same age across different children, groups or populations.