Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38457054›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2024

When better is the enemy of good: two cautionary tales of conceptual validity versus parsimony in clinical psychometric research.

Carolyn E Schwartz, Katrina Borowiec, Bruce D Rapkin

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Carolyn E SchwartzDeltaQuest Foundation, Inc., 31 Mitchell Road, Concord, MA, 01742, USA. carolyn.schwartz@deltaquest.org.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9173-7774
Katrina BorowiecDeltaQuest Foundation, Inc., 31 Mitchell Road, Concord, MA, 01742, USA.
Bruce D RapkinDepartment of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical challenge to the assumption that an item-response theory analysis always yields a better measure of a clinical construct. We summarize results from two measurement development studies that showed that such an analysis lost important content reflecting the conceptual model ("conceptual validity"). The cost of parsimony may thus be too high. Conceptual models that form the foundation of QOL measurement reflect the patient's experience. This experience may include concepts and items that are psychometrically "redundant" but capture distinct features of the concept. Good measurement is likely a balance between relying on IRT's quantitative metrics and recognizing the importance of conceptual validity and clinical utility.

Indexed as

PsychometricsQuality of LifeHumansReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesClassical test theoryClinical utilityConceptual validityItem response theoryMeasurement developmentParsimony

Identifiers

PMID38457054

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.