The SAS system V.8 implements the computation of unweighted and weighted kappa statistics as an option in the FREQ procedure. A major limitation of this implementation is that the kappa statistic can only be evaluated when the number of raters is limited to 2. Extensions to the case of multiple raters due to Fleiss (1971) have not been implemented in the SAS system. A SAS macro called MAGREE.SA...

BACKGROUND We sought to determine inter-rater reliability of the 2009 Appropriate Use Criteria for radionuclide imaging and whether physicians at various levels of training can effectively identify nuclear stress tests with inappropriate indications. METHODS AND RESULTS Four hundred patients were randomly selected from a consecutive cohort of patients undergoing nuclear stress testing at an a...

Factors associated with clinician assessment may play a role in the increasing rate of failed trials. The use of centralized raters, a small group of highly skilled, tightly calibrated, and continuously monitored raters linked to the study sites through videoconferencing can address these issues by reducing the sheer number of raters involved, using rigorous calibration procedures not logistica...

UNLABELLED To determine how early "the stuttering stereotype" is assigned, 160 university students rated a hypothetical vignette depicting either a 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old with or without the statement "He stutters". A factor analysis of the semantic differential scale showed a three-factor solution comprised of 17 of the 25 bi-polar adjective pairs. The factor labeled personality showed sign...

BACKGROUND To assess the effectiveness of geriatric interventions, The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey - Composite Endpoint (TOPICS-CEP) has been developed based on health valuations of older persons and informal caregivers. This study explored the influence of the raters' age on the preference weights of TOPICS-CEP's components. METHODS A vignette study was conducted with 200 ra...

Germonpré P, Papadopoulou V, Hemelryck W, Obeid G, Lafère P, Eckersley RJ, Tang M-X, Balestra C. The use of portable 2D echocardiography and ‘frame-based’ bubble counting as a tool to evaluate diving decompression stress. Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. 2014 March;44(1):5-13.) Introduction: ‘Decompression stress’ is commonly evaluated by scoring circulating bubble numbers post dive using Dopple...

OBJECTIVE To study the perception of informed consent among various raters for thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke patients receiving intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV-tPA). METHODS Twenty randomly selected videotaped telestroke consultations of acute stroke patients administered IV-tPA were retrospectively reviewed. Adequacy of informed consent was reviewed by five raters: a neu...

The purpose of this dictionary is to describe items in the tool thereby assisting raters to score study quality. Due to under-reporting or lack of clarity in the primary study, raters will need to make judgements about the extent that bias may be present. When making judgements about each component, raters should form their opinion based upon information contained in the study rather than makin...