The Validity of Alternative Hand Wall Toss Tests in Korean Children

Abstract

Background and Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify how the difficulty level of Alternative Hand Wall Toss (AHWT) test changed according to the distance between wall and subject (2.0 m or 1.2 m) and to determine the proper distance for 11–12 years old elementary school students. Material and Methods: Fitness measurement data from participants of “A Study on Development of Fitness Accreditation Standards for National Fitness Award 100 Elementary School Students (aged 11 to 12) in 2018” (total n = 2,753; 2.0 m, n = 1,428; 1.2 m, n = 1,325) were selected. The ratio of numbers, means, and standard deviations of subjects who were unable to measure according to distance were calculated. Difficulty levels of 6 fitness tests including AHWT test by applying Rasch model of Item Response Theory (IRT) were calculated, and AHWT test difficulty levels according to distance, 2.0 m and 1.2 m were compared. All statistical significance levels were set at p < 0.05. Results: Our findings were as follows: First, the ratios of subjects who performed 0 point (action) according to distance were 41% and 5.2% at 2.0 m and 1.2 m, respectively; Second, there was no difference of difficulty level among five test items except for the AHWT test; the difficulty level of the AHWT test was higher at 2.0 m than at 1.2 m. Conclusion: In conclusion, it is difficult to discriminate the ability of 11–12-year-old subjects if the distance to the wall is set to 2.0 m in the AHWT test because the difficulty level is too high. Therefore, we recommend setting the distance to 1.2 m for 11–12-year-old subjects.

Keywords

• Alternative Hand Wall Toss
• Elementary school students
• Item Response Theory
• Rasch model