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64 Normative Questions -ask "what should be" to the current situation (baseline or benchmark) rather than ask whether an objective outcome or condition has been achieved. Normative compare the current situation with a specific target or benchmark (Morra-Imas & Rist, 2009). Table 5: Purpose and Example of Normative Questions Purpose Example of question Assessing relevance Is the intervention a good strategy to improve school attendance? Milestones At the purse we are going, can we empower 6,000 families? Accomplishment Have families that were living below poverty datum line now eating three meals per-day? Children born with HIV and AIDS have long been documented to have psychological and physical challenges compared to their health peers. Studies evaluate such children against normative developmental standard. Focus Box 3 illustrates an example of a review study that uses normative questions. Focus Box 3: A review of studies evaluating neurodevelopment in children born to HIV-infected mothers by infection and treatment Status This study reviewed the impact of HIV, HIV exposure, and antiretroviral therapy/prophylaxis on neurodevelopmental outcomes of HIV-infected and HIV-exposed-uninfected infants and children. A literature search of Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, and conference Web sites (1990 – 2011) using the search terms, infant, child, HIV, neurodevelopment, cognition, language, and antiretroviral therapy, identified 31 studies of HIV/antiretroviral exposure using standardised tools to evaluate infant/child development as the main outcome. Articles were included if results were reported in children <16 years of age who were exposed to HIV and antiretrovirals in fetal/early life, and excluded if children did not acquire HIV from their mothers or were not exposed to antiretrovirals in fetal/early life. Infants who acquired HIV during fetal and early life tended to display poorer mean developmental scores than HIV-unexposed children. Mean motor and cognitive scores were consistently 1 to 2 SDs below the population mean. Mean scores improved if the infant received treatment before 12 weeks and/or a more complex antiretroviral regimen. Older HIV-infected children treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy demonstrated near normal global mean neurocognitive scores; subtle differences in language, memory, and behaviour remained. HIV-exposed-uninfected children treated with antiretrovirals demonstrated subtle speech and language delay, although not universally. In comparison with resource-rich settings, HIV-infected and HIV-exposed-uninfected infants/children in resource-constrained settings demonstrated greater neurodevelopmental delay compared with HIV-unexposed infants. The effects on neurodevelopment in older HIV-infected children commenced on antiretroviral therapy from an early age and HIV-exposed-uninfected children particularly in resource-poor settings remain unclear. Sources : Le Doare, Bland & Newell (2012)