Children's understanding of 'best'?

[Sarah Burton]

Hi,

My name is Sarah Burton and I am doing a PhD at Nottingham University with
Professor Peter Mitchell, looking at children's understanding of who knows
things about the self.

The question format that I have been using at the moment is, who knows best
about different aspects of self-knowledge e.g. Who knows best what you are
thinking? Who knows best when you are happy? Who knows best what you are
going to do at school tomorrow? and the children have to choose a person
from an array (which includes themselves, their teacher, a peer,
their parent).

It has been suggested to us that young children may have problems with
understanding the use of the word BEST, so I was wondering if anyone knows
of any relevant literature on this topic.  The children in the study are
primary school age, so between 4/5 and 10/11 years old.

Thankyou in advance, for your help,

Sarah Burton