Conundrums in the use of observational measures of socioemotional behavior

Abstract The potential for translation of observational measures of social and emotional behavior used in small‐scale studies for use in large‐, possibly national‐scale, studies of child development is currently an unresolved challenge. To begin to address this issue, the advantages and disadvantages to using observational measures of social and emotional behavior are discussed. In addition, alternatives to observational measures that may be helpful in assessing social and emotional behavior are considered with special emphasis on the benefits of cognitive measures.