Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Concepts, theories and models, and types of measurements
- 3 Development of a measurement instrument
- 4 Field-testing: item reduction and data structure
- 5 Reliability
- 6 Validity
- 7 Responsiveness
- 8 Interpretability
- 9 Systematic reviews of measurement properties
- References
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Concepts, theories and models, and types of measurements
- 3 Development of a measurement instrument
- 4 Field-testing: item reduction and data structure
- 5 Reliability
- 6 Validity
- 7 Responsiveness
- 8 Interpretability
- 9 Systematic reviews of measurement properties
- References
- Index
Summary
Preface
Measuring is the cornerstone of medical research and clinical practice. Therefore, the quality of measurement instruments is crucial. This book offers tools to inform the choice of the best measurement instrument for a specific purpose, methods and criteria to support the development of new instruments, and ways to improve measurements and interpretation of their results.
With this book, we hope to show the reader, among other things, why it
is usually a bad idea to develop a new measurement instrument
that objective measures are not better than subjective measures
that Cronbach???s alpha has nothing to do with validity
why valid instruments do not exist and
how to improve the reliability of measurements
The book is applicable to all medical and health fields and not directed at a specific clinical discipline. We will not provide the reader with lists of the best measurement instruments for paediatrics, cancer, dementia and so on ??? but rather with methods for evaluating measurement instruments and criteria for choosing the best ones. So, the focus is on the evaluation of instrument measurement properties, and on the interpretation of their scores.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Measurement in MedicineA Practical Guide, pp. ix - xPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011