Browsing by Subject "reliability"
Now showing items 1-3 of 3
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(2019)The purpose of this master’s thesis is to evaluate the reliability of forest products forecast information produced by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe member States. The study also aims to answer which dimensions of data quality are the most important when producing these predictions This study is carried out as quantitative research and it focuses on the predictions made by the 27 member States, produced between 2002 and 2017. This research aims to find out what methods are used by different member States and which methods produce the most reliable results. This research also aims to find out if there are any differences in reliability when assessing different product flows (removals, production, exports or imports) of the various products analyzed. There were clear differences visible between different products in the results of this research. In some products, almost all member States had managed to produce reliable predictions, while for others majority of member States didn’t manage that. There were also differences between member States and some were clearly more reliable than others. The biggest factor affecting reliability was volume: for most parts, bigger volumes meant more reliable predictions. Production and removals were more reliable product flow than imports or exports. This is due to the nature of imports and exports, as they are more easily affected by outside impacts. Although all member States were able to be sorted into four groups based on how different product flows looked like, no clear patterns were visible when observing how different member States produce predictions. Almost all of the interviewed representatives of member States reported that they were using almost or exactly the same methods to produce predictions.
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(2023)The purpose of this study was to assess the best way to measure carpal alignment. The study compared computer-based measurements and manual measurements of the carpal alignment. The subjects of comparison were the methods of measuring the radioscaphoid, radiolunate, radiocapitate and radiometacarpal angles. 30 cone beam CT scans of healthy, uninjured, wrists were analyzed by automated software (Disior ltd) and by hand surgeons using lateral radiographs reconstructed from the CT scans. Six hand surgeons were given instructions on how to take the measurements. They analyzed both reconstructed radiographs in which the wrist bones were partially overlapping due to summation, and reconstructed radiographs, where overlapping of the wrist bones had been digitally removed. In addition, seven different hand surgeons were not given instructions on the measurement methods. They analyzed only the reconstructed radiographs with wrist bones overlapping. In manual measurements, the inter- and intra-observer reliability of the results varied from good to excellent (ICC: 0.77–0.99), both in the instructed and in the uninstructed group. Inter-observer reliability was better in the group instructed in the methods of measurement. Reliability was further improved in reconstructed radiographs where the overlapping of the carpal bones had been digitally removed. Intra-observer reliability was very similar in both the instructed and uninstructed groups, and improved when bony overlapping was removed. The software provided excellent intra-observer reliability (ICC 0.94-1.00) and result, that were highly comparable the instructed manual measurements from radiographs with no bony overlapping (mean difference range 1°-7°). Although statistically significant differences were seen between manual measurements and software measurements, the differences are too small to be clinically significant. The research shows that accurate and repeatable computer-aided measurements of the carpal alignment can be made from CT scans, thereby minimizing observational errors. Key words: Carpal alignment, measurement, reliability, computer-aided, digitally reconstructed radiographs
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(2021)The psychometric properties, validity and reliability, of numeracy assessment have a significant role in identifying students’ special education needs in mathematics. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the validity and reliability evidence of numeracy measures used by teachers at the elementary school for children aged 9 through 12 years. Methods: A systematic search of Cinahl, Embase, ERIC, PsychINFO and PudMed abstract databases was completed up to the March, 2020. The abstracts and articles were evaluated independently by two reviewers according to the inclusion criteria. Consensus was reached by discussions. Only peer-reviewed articles reporting psychometric properties of numeracy measures and published in English were included. Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P, 2015) guidelines were applied for reporting. The terminology and classification of psychometric properties followed the Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidelines. Three validity properties and three reliability properties were searched and extracted from the articles. Results: Of the 4763 abstracts 921 full-text articles were screened and 13 studies met the inclusion criteria of this review. Two additional studies were identified through reference search. Half of the psychometric properties of the numeracy measures were not studied and reported in the articles. All the six reliability and validity properties were found for one measure. The evidence on the psychometric properties was limited for most of the measures due to the incomplete or missing psychometric data. Conclusions: The validity and reliability of the measures is limited and further evidence and research is needed.
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