Cronbach's alpha and test-retest correlation provided robust evidence of reliability of the time ratio score. The results showed that valid inference could be made from the time ratio score. The task was administered to a heterogeneous sample of 440 participants composed of college students as well as 5th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade students. Researchers designed a puzzle task that took the form of the popular game Sokoban, and the ratio between planning time and total time of each item was chosen as the metacognitive planning index. The present study was conducted to develop an online measure of metacognitive planning. Because planning is a metacognitive process, online methods that collect data during task performance would much better capture it. Although it has long been emphasized theoretically, it has not been the subject of much empirical study due to the lack of a valid assessment tool. Planning is the critical first stage of metacognition.
