Iteratively Designing a Mobile App for Measuring In-Group Out-Group Bias with Preschool Children

Abstract

The phenomena of in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination arise as early as preschool age. Living in increasingly diverse societies, it is therefore important to research these behaviors with children of that age. However, there exists no widely applicable tool that allows to measure in-group out-group bias in young children. In this contribution, we present a mobile app and its iterative implementation process, designed to measure in-group out-group bias in preschool children. The content of the app is based on theoretical knowledge from measuring in-group out-group biases with adults and adapted and digitized for young children. We applied a user-centered design approach and therefore conducted usability tests with the target age group. In addition, we conducted a comparative study to investigate the integration of a virtual peer that supports children using the app. By iteratively improving the app, children rated the final version highly and found it easy to use. Finally, we applied a test retest procedure to show that the measure resulting from our app represents a valid and reliable measure of preschool children’s in-group out-group bias.