Development and Validation of a Multiple Intelligence Test for Children

In this paper, we developed a multiple intelligence test (MIT) for children and verified its reliability and validity. To establish a direction for developing the test, we reviewed previous relevant studies and input from a Delphi survey conducted on thirteen experts. First, we developed 169 preliminary items for measuring eight bits of intelligence and applied them to 129 parents of children. From this test run, we re-examined the quality of the 169 items and selected 127. As a result of the analysis, the reliability of the test results was satisfactory in the range of 0.803-0.919. To ensure construct validity, we used a revised research model that utilizes the modification index to allow ten correlations between error factors. Further, we conducted subjective intelligence ratings for 41 children by asking their teachers to rate their MIT scores and analyzed the correlation coefficient between the teachers’ ratings(n=41) and the children(n=564)’s MIT scores. The teachers’ ratings and the children’s MIT scores showed a high correlation in interpersonal, linguistic, and musical intelligences and a significant correlation in logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, and naturalist intelligences, thereby, verifying the superiority of our MIT.