Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32345296›Full record

ArticleHealth and quality of life outcomes2020

Comparison of Ferguson's δ and the Gini coefficient used for measuring the inequality of data related to health quality of life outcomes.

Hsien-Yi Wang, Willy Chou, Yang Shao, Tsair-Wei Chien

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Health and quality of life outcomes, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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3 · Its place in the literature

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3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Hsien-Yi WangDepartment of Nephrology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
Willy ChouDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Yang ShaoSchool of Fashion and Design, Jiaxing Vocational and Technical College, Jiaxing, China.
Tsair-Wei ChienDepartments of Medical Research, Chi-Mei Medical Center, 901 Chung Hwa Road, Yung Kung Dist., Tainan, 710, Taiwan. smile@mail.chimei.org.tw.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFerguson's δ and Gini coefficient (GC) are defined as contrasting statistical measures of inequality among members within populations. However, the association and cutting points for these two statistics are still unclear; a visual display is required to inspect their similarities and differences.

methodsA simulation study was conducted to illustrate the pertinent properties of these statistics, along with Cronbach's α and dimension coefficient (DC) to assess inequality. We manipulated datasets containing four item lengths with two number combinations (0 and 33%) in item length if two domains exist. Each item difficulty with five-point polytomous responses was uniformly distributed across a ± 2 logit range. A simulated response questionnaire was designed along with known different structures of true person scores under Rasch model conditions. This was done for 20 normally distributed sample sizes. A total of 320 scenarios were administered. Four coefficients (Ferguson's δ, GC, test reliability Cronbach's α, and DC) were simultaneously calculated for each simulation dataset. Box plots were drawn to examine which of these presented the correct property of inequality on data. Two examples were illustrated to present the index on Google Maps for securing the discriminatory power of individuals.

resultsWe found that 1-Ferguson's δ coefficient has a high correlation (0.95) with GC. The cutting points of Ferguson's δ, GC, test reliability Cronbach's α, and the DC are 0.15, 0.50, 0.70, and 0.67, respectively. Two applications are shown on Google Maps with GCs of 0.14 and 0.42, respectively. Histogram legends and Lorenz curves are used to display the results.

conclusionThe GC is recommended to readers as an index for measuring the extent of inequality (or lower discrimination power) in a given dataset. It can also show the study results of person measures to determine the inequality in the health-related quality of life outcomes.

Indexed as

Quality of LifeStatistics as TopicDatasets as TopicHumansReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesCronbach’s αDimension coefficientFerguson’s δGini coefficientQuality of life

Identifiers

PMID32345296
PMCPMC7189694

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.