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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2011

Henrica C. W. de Vet ,
Caroline B. Terwee ,
Lidwine B. Mokkink  and
Dirk L. Knol
Henrica C. W. de Vet
Affiliation:
VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
Caroline B. Terwee
Affiliation:
VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
Lidwine B. Mokkink
Affiliation:
VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
Dirk L. Knol
Affiliation:
VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
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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 Medicine
A Practical Guide
 , pp. ix - x
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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