PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability of three different methods using a drawing protractor, a digital protractor after tracing, and a CAD system. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four artificial abutments that had been prepared by dental students were used in this study. Three dental students measured the convergence angles by e...

BACKGROUND Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound of the shoulder is characterized by a comparable accuracy to two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound. No studies investigating 2D versus 3D inter-rater reliability in the detection of supraspinatus tendon tears taking into account the level of experience of the raters have been carried out so far. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the inter...

This study investigated the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of subjective judgements of cough in patients following inhalation of citric acid. Eleven speech-language pathologists (SLPs) currently using cough reflex testing in their clinical practice (experienced raters) and 34 SLPs with no experience using cough reflex testing (inexperienced raters) were recruited to the study. Particip...

In symptomatic subjects, the reliability of tests for shoulder joint range of motion has yet to be determined. For this reason, inter-rater and intra-rater agreement trials were undertaken to ascertain the reliability of visual estimation, goniometry, still photography, "stand and reach" and hand behind back reach for six different shoulder movements. Intra-class correlation coefficients (Rho) ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the reproducibility of frontal plane knee joint laxity measurement through the assessment of intra- and inter-rater reliability coefficients and intra- and inter-rater agreement coefficients. METHODS Two raters independently assessed the laxity of the knee joint in the frontal plane by three repeated measurements. Fourteen days later the assessment was repeated. Complet...

BACKGROUND Physical therapists often assess patient independence through observation; however, it is not known if therapists make these judgments reliably. We have developed a standardized method to assess a patient's ability to perform his or her treatment program independently. OBJECTIVES To develop a standardized assessment of patient independence in performance of a treatment program and ...

BACKGROUND African pouched rats sniffing sputum samples provided by local clinics have significantly increased tuberculosis case findings in Tanzania and Mozambique. The objective of this study was to determine the reproducibility of rat results. METHODS Over an 18-month period 11,869 samples were examined by the rats. Intra-rater reliability was assessed through Yule's Q. Inter-rater reliabi...

The intra-rater reliability in rating essays is usually indexed by the inter-rater correlation. We suggest an alternative method for estimating intra-rater reliability, in the framework of classical test theory, by using the dis-attenuation formula for inter-test correlations. The validity of the method is demonstrated by extensive simulations, and by applying it to an empirical dataset. It is ...