Health Measurement Scales A Practical Guide to Their Development and Use

by Streiner, David L.; Norman, Geoffrey R.

• ISBN13: 9780192626707
• ISBN10: 0192626701
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-12-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The second edition of the only practical guide for clinicians developing tools to measure subjective states, attitudes, and other 'non-tangible' outcomes in their patients has been thoroughly revised to incorporate all the latest research results. New to this edition are a chapter on ethics and a discussion of reliability and generalizability theory. The authors offer an overview of both the theory and the practical applications of health measurement scales, and offer the reader a methodical, step-by-step guidance to the development of their own scales. These features combine to provide the most up-to-date guide to measurement scale development available. Written in a concise and intelligible style, it enables both experienced researchers and novices to develop accurate, sensitive and easy-to-use measurement scales of their own. This is an essential book for anyone who uses or would like to use rating scales in their clinical practice.

Author Biography

David L. Streiner is professor at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(3)
References	3	(1)
Basic concepts	4	(11)
Searching the literature	4	(1)
Critical review	5	(4)
The two traditions of assessment	9	(4)
Summary	13	(1)
References	13	(2)
Devising the items	15	(13)
The source of items	16	(4)
Content validity	20	(2)
Generic versus specific scales and the `fidelity versus bandwidth' issue	22	(2)
Translation	24	(2)
References	26	(2)
Scaling responses	28	(26)
Introduction	28	(1)
Some basic concepts	28	(1)
Categorical judgements	29	(2)
Continuous judgements	31	(17)
Multidimensional scaling	48	(3)
References	51	(3)
Selecting the items	54	(15)
Interpretability	54	(4)
Face validity	58	(1)
Frequency of endorsement and discrimination	59	(1)
Homogeneity of the items	60	(5)
Multifactor inventories	65	(1)
Putting it all together	66	(1)
References	66	(3)
Biases in responding	69	(16)
The differing perspectives	69	(1)
Optimizing and satisficing	70	(2)
Social desirability and faking good	72	(3)
Deviation and faking bad	75	(3)
Yea-saying or acquiescence	78	(1)
End-aversion, positive skew, and halo	79	(2)
Framing	81	(1)
References	82	(3)
From items to scales	85	(19)
Weighting the items	85	(3)
Multiplicative composite scores	88	(3)
Transforming the final score	91	(5)
Establishing cut points	96	(6)
Summary	102	(1)
References	102	(2)
Reliability	104	(24)
Basic concepts	104	(2)
Philosophical implications	106	(2)
Defining the reliability of a test	108	(3)
Other considerations in calculating the reliability of a test	111	(3)
Different forms of the reliability coefficient	114	(5)
Issues of interpretation	119	(3)
Improving reliability	122	(2)
Sample size estimation for reliability studies	124	(2)
Summary	126	(1)
References	126	(2)
Generalizability theory	128	(16)
G studies	130	(1)
D studies	130	(1)
therapists, occasions, and patients	131	(6)
items, observers, and stations-the OCSE	137	(3)
econometric vs. psychometric perspectives on the utility of health states	140	(2)
Summary	142	(1)
References	143	(1)
Validity	144	(19)
Why assess validity?	144	(1)
The `types' of validity	145	(1)
Content validity	146	(1)
Criterion validity	147	(3)
Construct validity	150	(7)
Biases in validity assessment	157	(4)
Changes in the sample	161	(1)
Summary	161	(1)
References	161	(2)
Measuring change	163	(18)
Introduction	163	(1)
The goal of measurement of change	163	(1)
Why not measure change directly	164	(2)
Measures of association--reliability and sensitivity to change	166	(5)
Difficulties with change scores in experimental designs	171	(1)
Change scores and quasi-experimental designs	172	(2)
Measuring change using multiple observations: growth curves	174	(5)
Summary	179	(1)
References	180	(1)
Item response theory	181	(8)
Item characteristic curves	182	(1)
Different models	183	(2)
Deriving the curves	185	(1)
Advantages and disadvantages	186	(1)
References	187	(2)
Methods of administration	189	(16)
Face-to-face interviews	189	(3)
Telephone questionnaires	192	(3)
Mailed questionnaires	195	(4)
The necessity of persistence	199	(2)
Computer-assisted administration	201	(2)
References	203	(2)
Ethical considerations	205	(16)
References	211	(1)
Appendices
Appendix A. Further reading	212	(3)
Appendix B. Where to find tests	215	(6)
Author index	221	(6)
Subject index	227