What makes a measurement instrument valid and reliable?

High quality instruments are useful tools for clinical and research purposes. To determine whether an instrument has high quality, measurement properties such as reliability and validity need to be assessed, using standardised criteria. This paper discusses these quality domains and measurement properties using the standardised criteria that were recently published by the COSMIN group. Examples are given of studies evaluating the measurement properties of instruments frequently used in trauma. This paper presents a helpful tool for readers who want to evaluate or assess the quality of a measurement instrument on reliability and validity.

[1]  G. Guyatt,et al.  Evaluating agreement: conducting a reliability study. , 2009, The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume.

[2]  Marshall Godwin,et al.  Health measurement scales , 1991 .

[3]  D. Streiner,et al.  Health Measurement Scales: A practical guide to thier development and use , 1989 .

[4]  L. Crocker,et al.  Introduction to Classical and Modern Test Theory , 1986 .

[5]  D. Streiner,et al.  Health measurement scales , 2008 .

[6]  J. Bartlett,et al.  Reliability, repeatability and reproducibility: analysis of measurement errors in continuous variables , 2008, Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

[7]  C. Bombardier,et al.  Development of an upper extremity outcome measure: The DASH (disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and head) , 1996 .

[8]  M. Eliasziw,et al.  Statistical methodology for the concurrent assessment of interrater and intrarater reliability: using goniometric measurements as an example. , 1994, Physical therapy.

[9]  C. Terwee,et al.  Quality criteria were proposed for measurement properties of health status questionnaires. , 2007, Journal of clinical epidemiology.

[10]  J. Fleiss,et al.  Intraclass correlations: uses in assessing rater reliability. , 1979, Psychological bulletin.

[11]  C. Bombardier,et al.  Development of an upper extremity outcome measure: the DASH (disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand) [corrected]. The Upper Extremity Collaborative Group (UECG) , 1996, American journal of industrial medicine.

[12]  C. Terwee,et al.  When to use agreement versus reliability measures. , 2006, Journal of clinical epidemiology.

[13]  C. Terwee,et al.  The COSMIN checklist for assessing the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties of health status measurement instruments: an international Delphi study , 2010, Quality of Life Research.

[14]  Klaas Sijtsma,et al.  A Comparative Study of Test Data Dimensionality Assessment Procedures Under Nonparametric IRT Models , 2004 .

[15]  Diane P. Martin,et al.  Short musculoskeletal function assessment questionnaire: validity, reliability, and responsiveness. , 1999, The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume.

[16]  C. Ekdahl,et al.  Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) ‐ validation of a Swedish version , 1998, Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports.

[17]  Diane P. Martin,et al.  Development of a musculoskeletal extremity health status instrument: The musculoskeletal function assessment instrument , 1996, Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

[18]  M. Swiontkowski,et al.  Outcome instruments: rationale for their use. , 2009, The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume.

[19]  C. Terwee,et al.  The COSMIN study reached international consensus on taxonomy, terminology, and definitions of measurement properties for health-related patient-reported outcomes. , 2010, Journal of clinical epidemiology.

[20]  S. Toksvig-Larsen,et al.  Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) – validation and comparison to the WOMAC in total knee replacement , 2003, Health and quality of life outcomes.

[21]  Margareta Ehnfors,et al.  Development of a questionnaire to measure patient-reported postoperative recovery: content validity and intra-patient reliability. , 2009, Journal of evaluation in clinical practice.

[22]  E. Roos,et al.  WOMAC Osteoarthritis Index--additional dimensions for use in subjects with post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the knee. Western Ontario and MacMaster Universities. , 1999, Osteoarthritis and cartilage.

[23]  Lex M Bouter,et al.  Interobserver reproducibility of the visual estimation of range of motion of the shoulder. , 2005, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[24]  B. Beynnon,et al.  Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)--development of a self-administered outcome measure. , 1998, The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy.

[25]  Theo Gasser,et al.  Assessing intrarater, interrater and test–retest reliability of continuous measurements , 2002, Statistics in medicine.

[26]  Jordi Alonso,et al.  The COSMIN checklist for evaluating the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties: A clarification of its content , 2010, BMC medical research methodology.

[27]  J. R. Landis,et al.  The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. , 1977, Biometrics.

[28]  L. Brosseau,et al.  Intra- and intertester reliability and criterion validity of the parallelogram and universal goniometers for measuring maximum active knee flexion and extension of patients with knee restrictions. , 2001, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[29]  C. Terwee,et al.  The Dutch version of the knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score: A validation study , 2008, Health and quality of life outcomes.

[30]  C. Bombardier,et al.  Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines. , 1993, Journal of clinical epidemiology.