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Ife PsychologIA 2014, 22(2), 27-35 Copyright © 2014 Ife Centre for Psychological Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ISSN: 1117-1421 27 A Standardisation study of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana Adote Anum Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon Email: [email protected] The Raven’s Progressive Matrices test was developed as a test of Spearman’s concept of general intelligence or index of g which measures an ability that is not influenced by external factors. The purpose of this study was to develop local norms for children in Ghana and to test the hypothesis that test scores on the progressive matrices are not influenced by socio- cultural factors. Seven hundred and sixty-three children selected from both urban and rural locations were administered with the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices. We found expected gradual developmental change in scores associated with increase in age. This increase was different for children from urban and rural populations. Children from rural areas consistently lagged behind in test scores and this difference got bigger between nine and eleven years. We associate the difference between urban and rural children to differences in socio-economic opportunities and conclude that these are two different populations and therefore need to have different comparative norms. The findings also challenge the perceived notion that the progressive matrices measures ability that are not influenced by education and cultural factors. Keywords: Children, cognitive assessment, general intelligence, Ghana, RCPM Intelligence and its measurement is one of the most complex concepts in psychology. To simplify the construct of intelligence, psychologists divided intelligence into two broad domains general and specific mental abilities (Jensen, 1998). This classification was inspired by Charles Spearman’s assertion in 1904 that a common factor underlies all mental abilities. The general factor of intelligence (g) is the ability that is reflected in all tests while the specific component is unique only to that test or a limited number of tests. Spearman postulated the g factor to explain correlations he found to exist among diverse tests of perceiving, reasoning, and thinking. General intelligence is usually measured by the performance subtests or non-verbal measures of cognitive ability. They are also measured by matrix reasoning or tests of abstract reasoning which have typically been designed to assess general intelligence tests. An example of this is the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM). There are three versions of the progressive matrices. The Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) which was the first to be published in 1938 was designed to test analytical reasoning through visual analogies. There are five sets and 12 items within a set with latter items becoming increasingly difficult. The Advanced Progressive Matrices was designed for individuals of above-average intelligence. The third version, the Colored Progressive Matrices, was designed for children aged 5 through 11 years old, the elderly, and mentally and physically impaired individuals. Unlike the two previous versions, most of the items are presented on a colored background to make the test visually stimulating for young participants. The Progressive Matrices is widely regarded as the best or one of the best tests of general intelligence (Court, 1983; Jensen, 1998). The test has therefore been used in a variety of situations that include but not limited clinical assessment, educational placement, and predicting job performance (Raven, 2000; Vincent & Cox, 1974) thus, making the progressive matrices one of the most widely used matrix reasoning test in different countries. In Ghana the progressive matrices is used widely primarily for clinical purposes and for job selection. The progressive matrices is useful in Ghana for a number of reasons. There are very few standardized tests that have been developed in Ghana to measure

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Page 1: A Standardisation study of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

Ife PsychologIA 2014, 22(2), 27-35 Copyright © 2014 Ife Centre for Psychological Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ISSN: 1117-1421

27

A Standardisation study of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

Adote Anum

Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon

Email: [email protected]

The Raven’s Progressive Matrices test was developed as a test of Spearman’s concept of general intelligence or index of g which measures an ability that is not influenced by

external factors. The purpose of this study was to develop local norms for children in

Ghana and to test the hypothesis that test scores on the progressive matrices are not

influenced by socio- cultural factors. Seven hundred and sixty-three children selected

from both urban and rural locations were administered with the Raven’s Colored

Progressive Matrices. We found expected gradual developmental change in scores

associated with increase in age. This increase was different for children from urban and rural populations. Children from rural areas consistently lagged behind in test scores

and this difference got bigger between nine and eleven years. We associate the

difference between urban and rural children to differences in socio-economic

opportunities and conclude that these are two different populations and therefore need

to have different comparative norms. The findings also challenge the perceived notion that the progressive matrices measures ability that are not influenced by education and

cultural factors.

Keywords: Children, cognitive assessment, general intelligence, Ghana, RCPM

Intelligence and its measurement is one of the most complex concepts in psychology.

To simplify the construct of intelligence,

psychologists divided intelligence into two

broad domains – general and specific

mental abilities (Jensen, 1998). This classification was inspired by Charles

Spearman’s assertion in 1904 that a

common factor underlies all mental

abilities. The general factor of intelligence (g) is the ability that is reflected in all tests

while the specific component is unique only to that test or a limited number of tests. Spearman postulated the g factor to explain

correlations he found to exist among

diverse tests of perceiving, reasoning, and

thinking.

General intelligence is usually measured by the performance subtests or non-verbal

measures of cognitive ability. They are also

measured by matrix reasoning or tests of

abstract reasoning which have typically

been designed to assess general intelligence

tests. An example of this is the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM). There are three

versions of the progressive matrices. The

Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) which

was the first to be published in 1938 was

designed to test analytical reasoning through visual analogies. There are five sets

and 12 items within a set with latter items becoming increasingly difficult. The

Advanced Progressive Matrices was

designed for individuals of above-average

intelligence. The third version, the Colored

Progressive Matrices, was designed for children aged 5 through 11 years old, the

elderly, and mentally and physically

impaired individuals. Unlike the two

previous versions, most of the items are

presented on a colored background to make

the test visually stimulating for young participants.

The Progressive Matrices is widely regarded

as the best or one of the best tests of

general intelligence (Court, 1983; Jensen,

1998). The test has therefore been used in a variety of situations that include but not

limited clinical assessment, educational

placement, and predicting job performance

(Raven, 2000; Vincent & Cox, 1974) thus,

making the progressive matrices one of the

most widely used matrix reasoning test in different countries.

In Ghana the progressive matrices is used

widely primarily for clinical purposes and

for job selection. The progressive matrices

is useful in Ghana for a number of reasons. There are very few standardized tests that

have been developed in Ghana to measure

Page 2: A Standardisation study of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

Ife PsychologIA, 22(2), 2014

28

intellectual functioning in both children

and adults. Therefore a quick and

‘unbiased’ measure of intelligence becomes particularly useful. The other advantage

that the RPM provides is that the RPM is

non-verbal. Ghanaian children grow up

speaking two or more languages (i.e., one or

more local dialects and English). Most

children, however, do not start communicating in the English language

until they are in school especially in the

rural areas. Since the progressive matrices

has minimal verbal instructions and verbal

response it avoids the difficulties and confounds associated with translating

English instructions into local languages.

Finally, the RPM is intended to measure an

ability that is not affected by social or

educational variations. The test

requirement does not depend on acquired knowledge and being non-verbal it has been

considered one of the most culture-fair

instruments. This makes it a measure of

choice to assess individual differences

between groups that vary greatly along socioeconomic characteristics which is a

reflection of differences between urban and

rural populations. Poverty levels are higher

in rural areas and the quality of education

is also lower. The progressive matrices is

therefore particularly useful for measuring individual differences in cognitive ability

between rural and urban children where

the effects of these external differences are

very noticeable.

The progressive matrices has been used as a measure of g and because of its predictive

ability in a variety of situations. However,

available evidence seems to suggest that

the test cannot be used without adequate

local standardization norms (e.g., Lynn,

Abdallah, & Al-Shahome, 2008; Lynn, Backhoff, & Contreras, 2005;

Constenbader, & Ngari, 2001; Pind,

Gunnarsdóttir, Jóhannesson, 2003;

Pullmann, Allik, Lynn, 2004). Findings from

these studies show that children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa perform

poorly on foreign psychometric tests and

that they would need locally based norms

or a modification of the test for a

meaningful interpretation of their scores

(e.g., Kitsao-Wekulo, Holding, Taylor, Abubakar & Connolly, 2012). In the

current study, the primary objective was to

develop local norms for the children’s

version of the progressive matrices, Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) among

school children in Ghana.

Group Differences on Progressive Matrices

Cross-cultural studies in Africa and Asia

have shown that there are group differences

in scores that may be attributed to socio-cultural factors. For example, Kaniel and

Fisherman (1991) demonstrated that

children from impoverished backgrounds

had significantly lower scores on the

Progressive Matrices when compared with children of the same age but of upper or

middle class backgrounds. In their study

Kaniel and Fisherman compared the non-

verbal intelligence test scores of Ethiopian

and Israeli Jews using the RPM among a

sample of 14- and 15-year old boys and girls who had immigrated to Israel one year

earlier with native Israeli children between

9 and 15 years. The Ethiopian children

demonstrated a delay of 4 to 5 years

placing them between the 5th and 10th percentile rank while most of the Israeli

children fell within Raven's normative scale.

There have been very few studies done in

Africa in which the performance on the

RPM has been compared across different

socio-cultural and economic groups. These have usually been in South Africa, where

most of these comparisons have been

between Black and White South Africans

(e.g., Lynn & Owen, 1994; Rushton & Skuy,

2000). The researchers have consistently reported lower scores for Black Africans on

the Raven’s progressive matrices with IQ

equivalents between 60 and 75. In Ghana,

Glewwe and Jacoby (1992) found that

scores of adolescent children on the

Raven’s progressive matrices was significantly lower when compared to the

British published norms. However, the

authors did not compare performance

between different socioeconomic groups.

The children used in the study were selected from the public school system

(which is usually associated with lower

income families). The test scores from this

study may therefore be a reflection of the

performance of children from only a specific

socioeconomic group.

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Adote Anum: Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

29

The Present Study

The primary objective of the present study

was to standardize the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) among the

Ghanaian students between six and twelve

years selected from public and private

schools and from urban and rural

communities. With the knowledge that this

dichotomy is closely associated with socioeconomic factors, one would expect

that if socioeconomic factors had effect on

test scores it should reflect in differences

between children from public and private

schools and between urban and rural children. If not, there should be differences

between these groups of children,

particularly on a test that is not influenced

that is not influenced by external factors.

As indicated, the goal of the current study

was standardize the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices on a representative

sample of children in Ghana taking

cognizance of the different socioeconomic

and cultural identities that might affect

performance on a cognitive test. Standardization of the RCPM would enable

a more accurate assessment of children for

school placement and for evaluation of

children with cognitive disabilities. There

have been very few standardizations done

in Ghana where currently, there is no published data on the Progressive Matrices

and any of the major psychological

assessment instruments. This presents a

major obstacle in assessment and

evaluation since comparison invariably is made on norms developed from other

populations.

Method

Sample and Participant Selection

To achieve a reasonable representative

sample for the country’s standardization study, participants for the study were

selected from both private and public

schools and from both urban and rural

areas within the Greater Accra Region

which is the administrative region in which the capital city is located. The sampling

procedure comprised a multi-stage random

sampling method to obtain urban and rural

sample of 16 schools from the Regional

capital. In Ghana, private schools are rated

A to D based on availability of resources

such as library, teacher-student ratio, and

teaching and learning resources. Better

resourced schools are rated A and less endowed schools rated D. Stratified

sampling technique was used for selection

of six private schools. Public schools which

are funded by the government are not

rated. The selection in the rural

communities focused on public schools. There are very few private schools in the

rural communities and the resources

available in private schools are not different

from those in publicly funded schools. The

selection of the public schools was based on convenience. We looked for schools that

had space for testing and could provide a

congenial environment for testing purposes.

Four and six schools were selected from

urban and rural locations respectively.

In schools where the class sizes were large (usually in the urban schools) sample

selection was systematic. For example,

every second or third student listed in the

class register was selected. In the schools’

register males separately from females are listed separately and therefore selection is

done separately for each group. In some

rural schools, all children in particular

classes were selected because of the low

enrolment. There were no children with

cognitive disability. Usually, children who have any identifiable cognitive challenges

are educated in special schools.

A total of 763 subjects were selected for the

entire study (see Table 1). However, due to

some incompletely tested subjects, the results of 734 (96%) were used for the

analysis. The ages of the children ranged

from six years 0 months to 11 years and 11

months (based on school records). Children

start school at about six years and

therefore the average age in the first grade (Class 1) is six and the average in the sixth

grade (Class 6) is about 11.5 to 12 years.

The population of Ghana is multiethnic and

multicultural. In the education system

however, there is no distinguishing ethnic or cultural factors that uniquely affect

education. The medium of instruction in all

schools is English. The level of proficiency

in English is however varied with children

in urban and private schools having higher

levels of proficiency. The medium of

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Ife PsychologIA, 22(2), 2014

30

instruction for the study was English for all

children. The instructions were repeated

several times for younger children to ensure they understood the requirements of the

tasks.

Table 1: Distribution of participants by

location and sex Location/Sex 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 Total Urban 71 78 79 62 102 392

Rural 53 49 57 70 113 342 Boys 45 62 68 62 100 337

Girls 79 65 68 70 115 397 Total 124 127 136 132 215 734

Measures The Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM).The RCPM is a nonverbal and

untimed test just as other versions of the

progressive matrices. There are three

sections, Section A, Ab, and B and each

section has 12 items. Each item contains a

matrix with one missing part. Children are

expected to select the missing part from an array of six options to make the matrix

complete. The highest possible score on the

test is 36. It can be administered in a group

or individually.

The test was administered in English following the directions for individual

administration suggested in the test

manual (Raven, Court, & Raven, 1998). The

RCPM was administered by one assessor

with extensive experience in assessment

procedures.

Results

Descriptive Analyses

The total score on the RCPM is based on

aggregate scores for each section (A, Ab,

and B). The mean and standard deviation by age and sex are presented in Table 2.

The mean scores are computed for the total

sample. In subsequent analyses

computations were done for the aggregated

sample and for urban and rural sample

separately. The overall means showed a gradual increase in total score from 6 years

to 12 years which suggested a

developmental trend although very small

changes were observed between some age

groups.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics for RCPM by sex, age (years)

Sex N Mean Standard deviation SE

Male 337 17.47 5.321 0.290

Female 397 16.41 4.867 0.244

Total 734 16.90 5.104 0.188

Analyses of Normative Data

For purposes of norming the RCPM

participants were grouped into eleven age

bands between 6.5 and 11.5 years based on six-month interval. The first group

comprised of all children between six and

six and half years and the last group

comprised of all children between 11 and

half years and 11 years 11 months. The age

classification is consistent with the age grouping for the published norms (Raven,

1998). Percentile scores based on the 6-

month age interval between 6 years and

11.5 years are presented in Table 3. The

norms were obtained by calculating percentile ranks for each age group in

SPSS. Seven percentile ranks were selected

to match the ranks used in the 1998

standardization reported in the manual

(Raven, 1989) and to allow for comparison

with the British norms. These are 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th.

The percentile ranks calculated from the

raw scores showed that as expected there

was a gradual increase in scores with age.

For example, the average score for a six

year old is 13 (50th percentile rank). This increases to 15 for a nine-year old and to

19 for children who are 11.5 years old

(Table 3). Similar trends were observed for

scores at higher percentile ranks.

When compared to the UK published norms, the range of scores for the

Page 5: A Standardisation study of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

Adote Anum: Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

31

Ghanaian norms is much lower (Raven,

1989) (Table 3). Comparison is made for

scores at the 50th, 75th, and 95th percentile ranks. High performing children on the

Ghana data (95th percentile) was

comparable to scores at the 50th percentile

on the British standardization data which is

an indication of superior performance for British children when compared to

Ghanaian children.

Table 3: RCPM Percentile scores for age groups1 (Ghana and British norms)

Percentiles

6 ½

7

7 ½

8

8 ½

9

9 ½

10

10 ½

11

11½

95

16

17

18

20

21

22

24

25

27

29

31

90

16

16

16

17

17

20

21

22

23

25

28

75

14

15

15

16

16

17

18

20

22

22

24

50

13

13

14

15

15

15

17

17

18

18

19

25

12

12

12

13

13

13

14

14

15

15

16

10

11

11

11

12

12

12

13

13

13

13

14

5

10

10

10

11

11

12

12

12

12

13

13

N

33

45

48

53

62

73

69

56

80

87

128

British norms

95 23 24 25 26 28 30 32 33 33 35 75 18 19 20 21 23 26 28 28 29 31 50 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 24 26 28

1 Smoothed percentile scores

When the data are disaggregated into urban

and rural children a different trend of

results for each group was observed. The

range of scores of children in the urban

group was superior to those in the rural group (Tables 4 and 5). Children in the

urban group obtained higher scores for

each age level and respective percentile

ranking. For example, scores that

correspond to 95th percentile rank for 9

year old children in the rural group was equivalent to 75th percentile among urban

children. Among 11 and 11.5 year old year

children in the rural sample, scores that

correspond to the 95th percentile rank was

comparable to scores at the 50th percentile

among urban children. This indicated that

the gap between the two groups increased

among older children in the study. For

rural children, the change in scores from

six years to nine years was quite imperceptible. Even then, high functioning

children (95th percentile) do not score

higher than urban children who score at

the 50th percentile.

It was observed that the difference in

performance between the urban children in this study was similar to and the published

norms especially between 7 and 11 years

showing two to three point difference at

each level.

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Ife PsychologIA, 22(2), 2014

32

Table 4: RCPM Percentile scores for age groups for urban school children1

Percentiles

7

7 ½

8

9

10

10 ½

11

11½

95

17

18

20

22

23

24

25

28

30

33

34

90

16

17

18

19

20

22

24

27

29

30

32

75

14

15

15

16

17

18

20

23

25

27

28

50

13

14

14

15

15

17

19

20

22

24

25

25

12

12

12

13

13

14

15

16

17

18

21

10

11

11

11

12

12

13

13

14

15

16

18

5

10

11

11

11

11

12

12

13

14

15

16

N

22

30

21

34

33

49

36

23

43

40

61

1 Smoothed percentile scores

Table 5: RCPM Percentile scores for age groups for rural school children1

Percentiles

7

8

9

10

10½

11

11½

95

16

17

17

18

19

19

20

21

22

22

23

90

15

16

16

17

18

18

19

20

20

20

21

75

14

15

15

16

16

17

17

18

18

18

19

50

13

13

14

15

15

15

16

16

16

16

17

25

11

11

12

12

13

13

14

14

14

14

15

10

10

10

10

12

12

13

13

13

13

13

13

5

8

10

10

10

10

11

11

11

11

12

12

N

11

15

27

19

29

24

33

33

37

47

67

1 Smoothed percentile scores

Comparing age groups, location, and sex

To test for age group differences, age groups

were reclassified into seven groups instead

of the 11 used for the percentile ranking. The classification is based on 12-month

intervals rather than 6 month intervals

(starting from 6 to 6.5 years to 11 years 11

months labeled as 12 years). It was

expected that we were more likely to observe cognitive changes significant

enough to be detected in statistical

analyses on 12-month interval than on six

months. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was

computed to test for statistical difference

between age groups, location (rural and

urban), sex (males and females). The

ANOVA results showed significant main

effects for age group (F(6, 734)=34.60, .001)

and for location (F(1, 734) = 71.53, .001), but not for sex. We did not find significant

mean differences among children who are

6.5 years and 8.5 year and between 8.5 and

9.5 years. Similarly, there was no difference

between children in the three highest age groups. We did however find significant

mean differences between 6.5 years and

9.5, 10.5, 11.5, and 12 years. We also

found significant differences between 8.5

years and 10.5, 11.5, and 12 years.

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Adote Anum: Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices in Ghana

33

Table 6: Post hoc Analyses for age group on the RCPM (total sample) Age Group Age group Mean SD 7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12

6.5 13.12 1.93 -0.36 -1.98 -3.04* -5.53* -5.92* -6.75* 7.5 13.48 2.49 -1.62 -2.68* -5.16* -5.56* -6.39* 8.5 15.10 3.69 -1.06 -3.54* -3.94* -4.77* 9.5 16.16 3.73 -2.49* -2.88* -3.71*

10.5 18.65 5.85 -.40 -1.23 11.5 19.05 5.73 -.83 12 19.87 5.13 Total 16.90 5.10

Discussion

The primary objective of this study was to collect data for reference norms on the

RCPM among school children for clinical

and educational purposes in Ghana. The

results showed that there were substantial

differences in percentile scores between this study and scores from the published norms

(Raven, 1989). The biggest differences were

observed among the older children

(especially between 9 and 11 year olds).

Overall, the Ghana sample still lagged

behind by at least 4 points. It appears that high performing Ghanaian children (95th

percentile) are comparable to performance

on 50th percentile. This is the strongest

indication for the development of

appropriate reference local norms for Ghana for the RCPM.

There are three principal issues that are of

interest in this study. First, there was the

revelation that scores obtained from the

Ghana sample were lower at all age levels

when compared to the British standardization sample (Table 3). Similar

results have been reported in previous

normative studies in Libya, Kenya, and

South Africa on both the children’s and

adults’ version of the progressive matrices (Al-Shahome, 2012; Costenbader & Ngari,

2001; Lynn et al, 2008). Basically, in all

these studies, the average scores from

Africans of North African and Black South

African decent were lower than obtained in

the normative data published in the manual and obtained from Western

countries such as Britain, Australia, and

North American. Lynn et al (2008) reported

that the average IQ of Libyan children was

86 compared to British IQ of 100. Again, in a similar study using the Standard

Progressive Matrices for adults in Libya, Al-

Shahomee (2012) found in a review of 21

normative studies in North Africa that the

median IQ based on British norms was 84. These two studies seem to suggest that the

performance of North African children on

the Raven’s progressive matrices is about 1

standard deviation lower than that of the

British children. The findings from the North African studies are consistent with

previous findings from Kenya and South

Africa (Constenbader & Ngari, 2001;

Rushton & Skuy, 2000). In South Africa,

results from Black South Africans have

been significantly lower than other groups (see for example, Knoetze, Bass & Steele,

2005; Rushton & Skuy, 2000). Some

researchers have attributed the superior

performance to the vast difference in

educational and socio-economic opportunities that exist in the Western

countries (for example, Wicherts, Dolana,

van der Maas 2010). Constenbader & Ngari

(2001) made the point that comparison

between scores of children from different

socio-cultural background is not intellectually useful. The variance in

performance within cultures may provide

more useful information about the validity

of the test than comparisons with scores

from other countries.

The second principal issue of interest in

this study was the revelation that the

variance in performance was high resulting

in significant disparity in the scores of

urban and children. Scores of high

functioning children from the rural group (95th percentile ranking) were comparable to

the 50th percentile ranking among the

urban school sample, especially among

children who are between nine years and

11.5 years. This means that children in urban locations develop superior abstract

reasoning, a skill required for the

progressive matrices, and maintain this

advantage over children in rural areas. On

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Ife PsychologIA, 22(2), 2014

34

one hand, this is not very surprising

because urban areas, compared to rural

areas have better socio-economic indicators such as improved educational facilities and

lower prevalence of poverty. In Ghana, most

teachers do not accept appointment into

rural areas because of poor infrastructure

and very high teacher-student ratios

(Akyeampong, Djangmah, Oduro, Seidu, & Hunt, 2007). School enrolment rates are

higher in urban areas than in rural areas

across all ages. Malnutrition, disease, and

poor quality of life are prevalent in rural

areas than in urban areas. In Ghana, children in rural areas are more likely to be

stunted because of poor nutritional status.

These factors can affect a child’s cognitive

development and likely to reflect poorly on

intelligence test scores (Duncan & Brooks-

Gunn, 2004; Farah, et al. 2006).

Finally, we examined sex difference in this

study but did not find it to be significant,

contributing to the controversial yet

interesting debate on sex differences on the

progressive matrices. There is no clear consensus on this debate (Savage-McGlynn,

2011; Yang, Liu, Wei, Hitchman, Li, Qui, &

Zhang, 2014). Generally, males have scored

higher on Raven’s Progressive Matrices

(Lynn & 2004; Lynn & Irwing, 2004). Lynn

and Irwing (2004) for example have reported that boys have advantage of 3.2 IQ

points on the RCPM. This advantage on the

progressive matrices, they claim increases

in adolescence. Our finding however is

similar to others that have not reported sex differences (for example, Colom & Garcıa-

Lopez, 2002). Other studies have reported

differences favoring females (for example,

Khaleefa & Lynn, 2008). We may need to

explore this further in Ghana with the other

versions of the progressive matrices.

Conclusions

This study was the first attempt to

standardize the RCPM in Ghana. The

results provided strong support in two

areas. First, it supports the need to standardize all tests on the local population

before making assumptions about

performance. Secondly, it challenges the

notion that the progressive matrices and

other matrix reasoning tests measure an

ability that is not influenced by socio-cultural factors.

Our findings have supported previous

findings in Kenya, South Africa, and Libya

as well. The findings from the Ghanaian standardization are particularly very

interesting because we directly explored

socioeconomic differences among

participants selected from the same genetic

pool. For this reason, any difference in

scores between these groups was going to be attributed to socioeconomic factors that

are determined not only by income

disparities but by exposure, quality of

education, opportunities, and general

quality of life. All of these factors vary significantly between urban and rural

locations in most African countries.

There are two issues that come to the fore.

First, we can conclude quite firmly that

development of children’s fluid ability may

not follow a singular developmental path for all children and therefore we need to be

careful in our assessment of children from

varied socioeconomic background. As our

data have shown, different norms are

needed to have a more accurate picture of children with lower socioeconomic statuses.

Secondly, the findings seem to challenge

the widely held notion the progressive

matrices measure an ability that is not

influenced by external factors. Our position

has been supported quite frequently and it is therefore essential to begin a systematic

examination of the different factors it might

measure the mechanisms involved in the

development of general intelligence.

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