Resumen

SIMANCAS PALLARES, Miguel  y  AREVALO TOVAR, Luisa. PERFORMANCE OF FOUR STATISTICAL METHODS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF TEST RE-TEST RELIABILITY OF CONTINUOUS VARIABLES IN A SAMPLE. Biosalud [online]. 2017, vol.16, n.1, pp.19-29. ISSN 1657-9550.  https://doi.org/10.17151/biosa.2017.16.1.4.

Objective: To compare the performance of four statistical tests in continuous variables test/retest reliability assessment. Methods: Statistical simulation study developed in the framework of an in vitro diagnostic test study including 120 teeth which met the inclusion criteria. Each tooth was positioned in a standardization device and was taken two digital x-rays (T₀ and T₁) in which we assessed tooth-length. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and then a statistical comparison was done with paired Student's "t" test, intraclass correlation coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient in Stata v.13.2 for Windows (StataCorp., TX., USA). Results: The average dental length for T₀ was 21.15 mm and for T₁ 21.07 mm. Student's "t" test revealed an average difference of 0.089 (P=0.00). The intraclass correlation coefficient 0.877 (95% CI: 0.43 - 0.98), Pearson's productmoment correlation coefficient 0.93, and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient 0.93 (95% CI: 0.908 - 0.956). Conclusions: Selection of a statistical test for test/re-test reliability assessment should be made having in mind the research objectives in any context and the possibility of each method for error assessment. Thus, a method that currently complies with this essential requirement is Lin's concordance correlation coefficient, which is recommended for future test re-test research studies.

Palabras clave : reproducibility of results; statistics and numerical data; error; hypothesis-testing.

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