Bookstart Around the World 1
Bookstart Around the World After collection, the
studies were scanned and filtered based on predetermined criteria. 19 studies finally remained and were included in the analysis. These are marked with an asterisk (*) in the reference list. The second part of material collection consisted of gathering countryspecific studies for each programme, based on interviews. These interviews were conducted with representatives for each country’s bookgifting programme. Additional studies were also included according to an ongoing selection process that was based on, for example, reference lists from studies and evaluations that were already included. The interviews also served as the basis for describing the programmes in each country. The studies for the countryspecific programmes were selected on the basis of some predetermined criteria: • The study focuses on the Bookstart programme in the specific country. • If the programme contains subprogrammes, only those that focus on young children (0–3 years of age) are included. • Both existing research and other evaluations/investigations are included. The material includes both research publications and other types of evaluation and report. This varies between the different programmes and how much they have been researched, so there have been some challenges in providing a comparable picture of all programmes. One limitation of this overview is that, in some cases, the literature is unavailable in anything other than the country’s language. Only Swedish and English texts could be included in this work. For this reason, the interviews have played an important role in bridging the language barriers. This overview does not claim to provide a complete picture of research in the language development of young children, since this subject extends across several disciplines, areas and fields of knowledge, and this would be beyond the scope of this overview of current knowledge. 48/52