Includes a comprehensive review of the interobserver agreement approach to assessing the reliability of a rating system

Explains how to reduce measurement error and provide good precise definition of the category being used

Provides direction and standards for conducting clinical and other types of studies

Contains examples of applications that emphasize the practicality and use of the theory

Supplies SAS code for problem solving both within the book and on the CRC Web site

Agreement among at least two evaluators is an issue of prime importance to statisticians, clinicians, epidemiologists, psychologists, and many other scientists. Measuring interobserver agreement is a method used to evaluate inconsistencies in findings from different evaluators who collect the same or similar information. Highlighting applications over theory, Measure of Interobserver Agreement provides a comprehensive survey of this method and includes standards and directions on how to run sound reliability and agreement studies in clinical settings and other types of investigations.

The author clearly explains how to reduce measurement error, presents numerous practical examples of the interobserver agreement approach, and emphasizes measures of agreement among raters for categorical assessments. The models and methods are considered in two different but closely related contexts: 1) assessing agreement among several raters where the response variable is continuous and 2) where there is a prior decision by the investigators to use categorical scales to judge the subjects enrolled in the study. While the author thoroughly discusses the practical and theoretical issues of case 1, a major portion of this book is devoted to case 2. He explores issues such as two raters randomly judging a group of subjects, interrater bias and its connection to marginal homogeneity, and statistical issues in determining sample size.

Statistical analysis of real and hypothetical datasets are presented to demonstrate the various applications of the models in repeatability and validation studies. To help with problem solving, the monograph includes SAS code, both within the book and on the CRC Web site. The author presents information with the right amount mathematical details, making this a cohesive book that reflects new research and the latest developments in the field.

INTRODUCTION
RELIABILITY FOR CONTINUOUS SCALE MEASUREMENTS
Model for Reliability Studies
Inference Procedures on the Index of Reliability for Case (1)
Analysis of Method - Comparison Studies
Comparing Reliability Coefficients
MEASURES OF 2x2 ASSOCIATION AND AGREEMENT OF CROSS CLASSIFIED DATA
Introduction
Indices of Adjusted Agreement
Cohen's Kappa =Chance Corrected Measure of Agreement
Intraclass Kappa
The 2x2 Kappa in the Context of Association
Stratified Kappa
Conceptual issues
COEFFICIENTS OF AGREEMENT FOR MULTIPLE RATERS AND MULTIPLE CATEGORIES
Introduction
Multiple Categories and Two Raters
Agreement for Multiple Raters and Dichotomous Classification
Multiple Raters and Multiple Categories
Testing the Homogeneity of Kappa Statistic from Independent Studies
ASSESSING AGREEMENT FROM DEPENDENT
Introduction
Dependent Dichotomous Assessments
Adjusting for Covariates
Likelihood Based Approach
Estimating Equations Approach
Loglinear and Association Models
Appendix I: Joint probability distribution of repeated dichotomous assessments
Appendix II: Correlation between estimated kappas
SAMPLE SIZE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DESIGN OF RELIABILITY STUDY
Introduction
The Case of Continuous Measurements
The Non-Normal Case
Cost Implications
The Case of Dichotomous Assessments
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"… an important strength of this text is that it brings together technical results on agreement statistics from a variety of sources, and it often provides information about the precision of the estimates and interval estimates … this text provides a handy compilation of statistical approaches to interobserver agreement … biostatisticians …are likely to find the summary and results to be helpful, and they will want to add this book to their collection."
-Patrick E. Shrout, New York University, USA, in Statistics in Medicine, Vol. 25, 2006

"Mohamed Shoukri is well placed to write this book, as he is one of the foremost current researchers in this field. I recommend it."
- Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

"The well written specialized book by Shoukri illustrates the meaning and importance of the measures of interobserver agreement with fun examples. The author is known for clear presentation."
-Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Vol. 75, No. 4, April 2005

"This book can be recommended…"
-Biometrics

Resource	OS Platform	Updated	Description	Instructions
SASCODES.pdf	Cross Platform	June 11, 2003	SAS Codes	SAS codes in pdf format