scholarly journals A Checklist to Assess the Quality of Survey Studies in Psychology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cleo Protogerou ◽  
Martin S Hagger
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Preliminary Test ◽  
Criterion Validity ◽  
Consensus Method ◽  
Study Quality ◽  
Rater Reliability ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Importance Ratings

Study quality is emerging as an essential component of evidence syntheses and allows practitioners and policymakers to make informed decisions based on the quality of the evidence reviewed. Study quality is typically assessed by checklists of pre-determined quality criteria. Few study quality checklists have been systematically evaluated, and none have been developed specifically for survey studies in psychology. The present study addresses this evidence gap by developing the quality of survey studies in psychology (Q-SSP) checklist, using an expert-consensus method. An international panel of experts in psychology research and quality assessment (N = 53) evaluated the inclusion and importance of candidate quality items and offered commentary. The resulting checklist was used to evaluate a set of survey studies and inter-rater reliability of checklist scores was computed. A preliminary test of criterion validity of checklist scores was conducted using on a sample of survey studies with ‘known differences’ in study quality verified by experts. Experts exhibited high agreement on inclusion and importance ratings of the candidate items. Minor adjustments were made to the candidate items based on experts’ feedback. Inter-rater reliability of study quality scores using the checklist was high. Some evidence for criterion validity of scores using the checklist was obtained. Overall, we provide preliminary data to support the Q-SSP checklist as a potential means to evaluate the quality of survey studies in psychology. We recommend a large-scale study using the Q-SSP checklist to assess study quality in studies with known differences in quality verified by experts.

scholarly journals What Works and What Does Not: an Analysis of Application Frameworks Technology

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wusheng Zhang ◽  
Mik Kim
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Systems Development ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
What Works ◽  
Potential Benefits

Advocates of application frameworks claim that this technology is one of the most promising, supporting large-scale reuse, increased productivity and quality, and reduced cost of software development. A number of its advocates suggest that the next decade will be a major challenge for the development and deployment of this technology. This study investigates the theory and practice of application frameworks technology to evaluate what works and what does not in systems development. The evaluation is based on quality criteria developed by the authors. The result of the study suggests that application frameworks technology does support large-scale reuse by incorporating other existing reuse techniques such as design patterns, class libraries and components. It also shows that the methodological support pertaining to building and implementing application frameworks is inadequate. Furthermore, it indicates that application frameworks technology may increase the quality of software in terms of correctness and reusability with some penalty factors but there is no guarantee of increasing the extendability and interoperability of software systems. There are still obstacles that restrict the potential benefits claimed by the proponents of application frameworks.

scholarly journals The ANHEQ Evaluation Criteria: Introducing Reliable Rating Scales for Assessing Nordic Hamstring Exercise Quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Alt ◽  
Marcus Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scales ◽  
Intervention Studies ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Study Quality ◽  
Rater Agreement ◽  
Rater Reliability ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Data Presentation ◽  
Related Research

Abstract Background The Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE) is very popular for selective eccentric hamstring strengthening. However, NHE-related research is hindered by insufficient details about implementation and reporting. Available tools to assess study quality (e.g., PEDro or TESTEX scale) are too unspecific to account for the specific demands of NHE. Therefore, this study aimed to introduce two rating scales for Assessing Nordic Hamstring Exercise Quality (ANHEQ) of assessment and intervention studies. Methods Eighteen graduated sports scientists, sports physiotherapists and elite coaches with scientific experience independently evaluated the quality of published NHE studies via ANHEQ scales, each comprising eight items and a maximal 13-point score. Inter-rater agreement was analyzed by using criterion-based reference values, while Krippendorff´s alpha determined inter-rater reliability. Systematic differences of the summated ANHEQ scores were determined using Friedman tests. Results Inter-rater agreement was 87 ± 5% for NHE assessments and 88 ± 6% for interventions with single items ranging from 71 to 100%. Alpha values for inter-rater reliability ranged from fair (.250) to perfect (1.00) depending on the item. Total ANHEQ scores revealed coefficients of .829 (almost perfect) and .772 (substantial) without significant inter-rater differences (p = .292). Conclusions The ANHEQ scales are suitable tools to rate NHE execution quality and data presentation. They facilitate a comprehensive review of NHE-related evidence and potentially improve the design and reporting of future NHE studies.

Assessment of quality of life in patients with the effects of transient ischemic stroke

2016 ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
A. Babirad
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Ischemic Stroke ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cerebrovascular Diseases ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Cerebrovascular Events ◽  
Sf 36 ◽  
Angioplasty And Stenting

Cerebrovascular diseases are a problem of the world today, and according to the forecast, the problem of the near future arises. The main risk factors for the development of ischemic disorders of the cerebral circulation include oblique and aging, arterial hypertension, smoking, diabetes mellitus and heart disease. An effective strategy for the prevention of cerebrovascular events is based on the implementation of large-scale risk control measures, including the use of antiagregant and anticoagulant therapy, invasive interventions such as atheromectomy, angioplasty and stenting. In this connection, the efforts of neurologists, cardiologists, angiosurgery, endocrinologists and other specialists are the basis for achieving an acceptable clinical outcome. A review of the SF-36 method for assessing the quality of life in patients with the effects of transient ischemic stroke is presented. The assessment of quality of life is recognized in world medical practice and research, an indicator that is also used to assess the quality of the health system and in general sociological research.

An experience of performing spirometry by trained general practitioners

2020 ◽  
pp. 34-36
Author(s):  
M. A. Pokhaznikova ◽  
E. A. Andreeva ◽  
O. Yu. Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioners ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Male Gender ◽  
Study Research ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Quality Of Research ◽  
Forced Expiratory Maneuver ◽  
Maximal Effort

The article discusses the experience of teaching and conducting spirometry of general practitioners as part of the RESPECT study (RESearch on the PrEvalence and the diagnosis of COPD and its Tobacco-related aetiology). A total of 33 trained in spirometry general practitioners performed a study of 3119 patients. Quality criteria met 84.1% of spirometric studies. The analysis of the most common mistakes made by doctors during the forced expiratory maneuver is included. The most frequent errors were expiration exhalation of less than 6s (54%), non-maximal effort throughout the test and lack of reproducibility (11.3%). Independent predictors of poor spirogram quality were male gender, obstruction (FEV1 /FVC<0.7), and the center where the study was performed. The number of good-quality spirograms ranged from 96.1% (95% CI 83.2–110.4) to 59.8% (95% CI 49.6–71.4) depending on the center. Subsequently, an analysis of the reasons behind the poor quality of research in individual centers was conducted and the identified shortcomings were eliminated. The poor quality of the spirograms was associated either with the errors of the doctors who undertook the study or with the technical malfunctions of the spirometer.

Model and Method for Contributor’s Quality Assessment in Community Image Tagging Systems

2018 ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
A. V. Ponomarev
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Preference Relation ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Characteristic Matrix ◽  
Image Tagging ◽  
Proposed Model

Introduction: Large-scale human-computer systems involving people of various skills and motivation into the information processing process are currently used in a wide spectrum of applications. An acute problem in such systems is assessing the expected quality of each contributor; for example, in order to penalize incompetent or inaccurate ones and to promote diligent ones.Purpose: To develop a method of assessing the expected contributor’s quality in community tagging systems. This method should only use generally unreliable and incomplete information provided by contributors (with ground truth tags unknown).Results:A mathematical model is proposed for community image tagging (including the model of a contributor), along with a method of assessing the expected contributor’s quality. The method is based on comparing tag sets provided by different contributors for the same images, being a modification of pairwise comparison method with preference relation replaced by a special domination characteristic. Expected contributors’ quality is evaluated as a positive eigenvector of a pairwise domination characteristic matrix. Community tagging simulation has confirmed that the proposed method allows you to adequately estimate the expected quality of community tagging system contributors (provided that the contributors' behavior fits the proposed model).Practical relevance: The obtained results can be used in the development of systems based on coordinated efforts of community (primarily, community tagging systems). 

THE QUALITY OF PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN CAN THO CITY, 2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 76-81
Author(s):  
Chu Cao Minh ◽  
Thang Vo Van ◽  
Dat Nguyen Tan ◽  
Hung Vo Thanh
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Medicine ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Quality Criterion ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Can Tho City

Background: The criteria set of assessing hospital quality in Vietnam in 2016 was revied from the criteria set in 2013 by the Ministry of Health in order to help hospitals to self-assess towards improvinge quality of hospitals in the international integration context. The study aimed to assess the quality of public hospitals in Can Tho City according to the revised criteria set of the Ministry of Health in 2016 and compare the quality among three hospital ranks (including grade I, grade II, and grade III) via to 5 groups of quality criteria. Methods: A cross-sectional study, using secondary data analysis was applied to assess the service quality of 7 general public hospitals in Can Tho City. Results: The average total score of 7 hospitals is 245 and the average for the criteria of 7 hospitals is 2.99, which is just satisfactory. In the criterion of quality, criterion D and E had the lowest scores compared to the other three groups. There was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.076) among the mean scores for the three hospital categories. Conclusion: The quality of public hospitals in Can Tho city in 2016 only reached moderately good level (2.99). Interventions should be developed to improve the quality of hospitals, with particular emphasis on improving the quality of criteria groups D and E. Key words: Quality, hospital, medicine, health, public, Can Tho

Translation and Validation of the Thai Version of the Wisconsin Quality of Life Questionnaire (TH WISQoL) for Kidney Stone Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (11) ◽  
pp. 1194-1199
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Kidney Stone ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Outcome Measurement ◽  
Life Questionnaire ◽  
Sf 36

Objective: To develop and validate a Thai version of the Wisconsin Quality of Life (TH WISQoL) Questionnaire. Materials and Methods: The authors developed the TH WISQoL Questionnaire based on a standard multi-step process. Subsequently, the authors recruited patients with kidney stone and requested them to complete the TH WISQoL and a validated Thai version of the 36-Item Short Form Survey (TH SF-36). The authors calculated the internal consistency and interdomain correlation of TH WISQoL and compared the convergent validity between the two instruments. Results: Thirty kidney stone patients completed the TH WISQoL and the TH SF-36. The TH WISQoL showed acceptable internal consistency for all domains (Cronbach’s alpha 0.768 to 0.909). Interdomain correlation was high for most domains (r=0.698 to 0.779), except for the correlation between Vitality and Disease domains, which showed a moderate correlation (r=0.575). For convergent validity, TH WISQoL demonstrated a good overall correlation to TH SF-36, (r=0.796, p<0.05). Conclusion: The TH WISQoL is valid and reliable for evaluating the quality of life of Thai patients with kidney stone. A further large-scale multi-center study is warranted to confirm its applicability in Thailand. Keywords: Quality of life, Kidney stone, Validation, Outcome measurement

Bioactivity Prediction Based on Matched Molecular Pair and Matched Molecular Series Methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (33) ◽  
pp. 4195-4205
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Ding ◽  
Chen Cui ◽  
Dingyan Wang ◽  
Jihui Zhao ◽  
Mingyue Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Predictive Accuracy ◽  
Lead Optimization ◽  
Consensus Method ◽  
Molecular Pair ◽  
Bioactivity Prediction ◽  
Compound Synthesis ◽  
Consensus Modeling

Background: Enhancing a compound’s biological activity is the central task for lead optimization in small molecules drug discovery. However, it is laborious to perform many iterative rounds of compound synthesis and bioactivity tests. To address the issue, it is highly demanding to develop high quality in silico bioactivity prediction approaches, to prioritize such more active compound derivatives and reduce the trial-and-error process. Methods: Two kinds of bioactivity prediction models based on a large-scale structure-activity relationship (SAR) database were constructed. The first one is based on the similarity of substituents and realized by matched molecular pair analysis, including SA, SA_BR, SR, and SR_BR. The second one is based on SAR transferability and realized by matched molecular series analysis, including Single MMS pair, Full MMS series, and Multi single MMS pairs. Moreover, we also defined the application domain of models by using the distance-based threshold. Results: Among seven individual models, Multi single MMS pairs bioactivity prediction model showed the best performance (R2 = 0.828, MAE = 0.406, RMSE = 0.591), and the baseline model (SA) produced the most lower prediction accuracy (R2 = 0.798, MAE = 0.446, RMSE = 0.637). The predictive accuracy could further be improved by consensus modeling (R2 = 0.842, MAE = 0.397 and RMSE = 0.563). Conclusion: An accurate prediction model for bioactivity was built with a consensus method, which was superior to all individual models. Our model should be a valuable tool for lead optimization.

Evaluating Qualitative Research

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeasik Cho
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Journal Editors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grant Proposals

This book provides the qualitative research community with some insight on how to evaluate the quality of qualitative research. This topic has gained little attention during the past few decades. We, qualitative researchers, read journal articles, serve on masters’ and doctoral committees, and also make decisions on whether conference proposals, manuscripts, or large-scale grant proposals should be accepted or rejected. It is assumed that various perspectives or criteria, depending on various paradigms, theories, or fields of discipline, have been used in assessing the quality of qualitative research. Nonetheless, until now, no textbook has been specifically devoted to exploring theories, practices, and reflections associated with the evaluation of qualitative research. This book constructs a typology of evaluating qualitative research, examines actual information from websites and qualitative journal editors, and reflects on some challenges that are currently encountered by the qualitative research community. Many different kinds of journals’ review guidelines and available assessment tools are collected and analyzed. Consequently, core criteria that stand out among these evaluation tools are presented. Readers are invited to join the author to confidently proclaim: “Fortunately, there are commonly agreed, bold standards for evaluating the goodness of qualitative research in the academic research community. These standards are a part of what is generally called ‘scientific research.’ ”

scholarly journals The use of mathematical modelling to analyse the process of mixing waters from different sources in water supply system

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 00025
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Szuster – Janiaczyk ◽  
Rafał Brodziak ◽  
Jędrzej Bylka
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Network Control ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Water Mains ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Mixing Water

One of the processes that significantly determines the quality of water to consumers is the process of mixing water from different sources in the water mains. Put to the network two or more chemically and biologically stable waters may result in the formation of water that will be deprived of these features. This article presents the german guidelines for analysing water quality for mixing waters from different sources, in various proportions. Then performed an analysis of utility the mathematical models,including quality criteria, for use in network control. An IT tool has been developed to manage selected water quality processes using mathematical modeling. The basis for implementing the tool was a network model created in Epanet integrated with the Matlab.

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