Анализ на взаимовръзката между социалната уязвимост и когнитивните умения при липса на преки индикатори за езиков статус
Analysis of the Relation between Social Vulnerability and Cognitive Skills in the Absence of Direct Indicators of Language Status

Summary/Abstract: Based on the data of Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) – wave 7, the current article argues that some degrees of bias in the cognitive test’s outcomes are possible concerning Bulgaria. It is due to the fact that the set of stimuli-words was not considering the language interpretants in Turkish and Romanes but it may bring an interpretative confusion and additional barriers towards memorizing. Since there is not possibility to use control variables such as “mother tongue” or “ethnic identity”, a set of three other indicators was checked for a possible significant bias: the number of years at school; the number of books at home; and the size of the household. The respondents show significantly lower cognitive skills in all cases where the socially vulnerable ethnic groups are overrepresented: never attended school or up the 4th grade; less than 10 books in the household; and households with five or more members. There are two possible methodological solutions proposed: a control variable based on language spoken at home and a new design of stimuli-words, set on animals, musical instruments or other tools, where there are no too many synonyms and language interpretants.

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