Evaluate

• Methodological problems.

  The way he questioned the children, they were asked the same question twice(usually in real life this happened if children get an answer wrong) so they may have changed their answer.
• Rather than being unable to conserve they might have been actually showing demand characteristics, they thought that they were expected to give a different answer.
• Other researchers have subsequently addressed this issue by replicating the research but only asking the question once, post-transformation of the layout. They found that when younger children in the pre-operational stage were only asked the question once many more showed the ability to conserve
• Generalisability: 


  Piaget used a small sample- it may not have represented all children as it was only conduced on Swedish school children. This is important as the ability to conserve may be affected by education and upbringing, therefore the results may not represent all students in all countries
• Application

  supports Piaget’s theories of stages of development, and can be used to inform teachers in the education system
• The study was culturally bias

  only conducted on Swiss school children. The ability to conserve may be affected by education and upbringing, therefore the results may not be representative of all children in different countries.
• Validity issues- The study has been criticized for being artificial.
• The nature of the task also lacked task validity- it did not have any meaning to children.
• An adult moving the counters in front of younger children might have made the younger ones think that something must have changed because an adult did something
• McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) addressed this issue by using a ‘naughty teddy’
• The naughty teddy messes up the counters and makes one row shorter by moving the counters together
• When the researcher asks the question a second time

  The focus of the transformation has been taken away from the researcher
• Significantly more children in the pre-operational stage said that the number of counters had not changed
• They demonstrated they were able to conserve