General Research and Survey Methods references
Compilations and Methods references
General and Qualitative references
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale references
Race/Ethnicity references
Racial and Ethnic Identity references
IRT and DIF Readings
Reference List Sub-Sections:
General Research Methods
General Survey Methods
Introduction
The following list of references was compiled by members of the Measurement and Methods Core leaders and participants. It is intended to serve as a list of basic, classic, and high quality references for those interested in learning more about quantitative and qualitative measurement issues in general and in diverse and older populations. It also includes references on minority health issues. The list is not exhaustive, but reflects references that RCMAR investigators’ find particularly useful. It also includes some general research and survey methods references to set the stage for new investigators. The development of the list is an ongoing process, thus it will be updated as RCMAR investigators identify new references in these areas, and new areas of relevance.
Measures Compilations
Health and Psychosocial Instruments database (HaPI). Available Online or CD-ROM from Ovid Technologies (1-800-950-2035) or Evelyn Perloff, Ph.D., Director of HaPI, bmdshapi@aol.com.
Contains information on existing instruments used in nursing, physical therapy, psychology, and various medical specialties. It is also a source of published studies that have used specific instruments. Although not every instrument of potential interest is presently included, information for those measures that are in the database is often very useful.
Kane RA, Kane RL. Assessing the Elderly: A Practical Guide to Measurement. Lexington MA: Lexington Books; 1981.
Focuses on measures for older adults, reviews measures of physical, mental, and social functioning in long-term care. Section on choosing measures. Note: published in 1981 (somewhat out of date).
Lawton, MP, Teresi, JA. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics: Focus on assessment techniques. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1994.
This volume evaluates a range of assessment measures with regard to older adults. It addresses topics such as assessment of health, functional disability (ADLs), mental ability, aging and personality, depression, and pain. This book discusses the suitability, strengths, and weakness of various measures and offers current information on the state-of-the-art assessment technology.
Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, Gonzalez V, Laurent D, Lynch J. Outcome Measures for Health Education and Other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 1996.
Appendices in this book present selected measures of health, patient satisfaction, health profiles, and all measures used in the Chronic Disease Self-Management Study. Spanish versions of self-rated health, pain, the CES-D, arthritis self-efficacy, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire are included.
McDowell I, Newell C. Measuring Health: A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires, Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press; 1996.
Reviews thoroughly measures of physical disability, social health, psychological well-being, depression, mental status, pain, and general health and quality of life. Includes actual instruments where possible and selected items in some cases.
Robinson JP, Shaver PR, Wrightsman LS. Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes. San Diego: Academic Press, Inc.; 1991.
Includes reviews of measures of response bias, subjective well-being, self-esteem, social anxiety, depression and loneliness, alienation, interpersonal trust, locus of control, authoritarianism, sex roles, and values. Not focused on aging, but attempt to interpret adequacy of measures. No mention of cross-cultural issues. Includes actual instruments where possible and selected items in some cases.
Spilker B. Quality of Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials, Second Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven; 1996. (1254 pages)
This edited book contains chapters addressing the following: measures of quality of life, methods of validation of measures, how to choose specific measures in specific situations for specific purposes, and quality of life measures for specific conditions. Includes cross-cultural issues and issues of assessment in disadvantaged groups.
Stewart AL, Ware JE, Jr. Measuring Functioning and Well-being: The Medical Outcomes Study Approach. Durham, NC: Duke University Press; 1992.
Describes all steps involved in developing and testing the reliability and validity of the Medical Outcomes Study long-form measures (from which the SF-36 and SF-12 short form measures were derived). Includes measures of physical functioning, psychological distress/well-being, cognitive functioning, health perceptions, energy/fatigue, health distress, social functioning, sexual functioning, role functioning, pain, sleep, and physical/psychophysiologic symptoms.
Streiner D, Norman G. Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide to Their Development and Use. Second ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 1995.
Briefly describes the process of conceptualizing and developing measures, including issues of reliability, validity, and ethics. Includes brief but useful descriptions of generalizability theory and item response theory. Presentation is generally user-friendly
Teresi, JA, Lawton, MP, Holmes, DH, Ory, M. Measurement in Elderly Chronic Care Populations. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1997.
Provides a review of measures used in chronic care settings to assess individuals whose assessment is complicated by factors such as frailty, perception and communication problems, and advanced cognitive impairment. The book is a resource to researchers and clinicians in the selection of measures that will more accurately describe and predict the status of individuals from chronic care populations.
Wilkin D, Hallam L, Doggett MA. Measures of Need and Outcome for Primary Health Care. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1992.
Summarizes measures appropriate for use in primary care, including review of concepts and methods of measurement. Chapters include measures of functioning, mental illness and mental health, social support, multidimensional measures, disease-specific measures, and measures of patient satisfaction.
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Measurement Methods
Cohen, P, Cohen, J, Teresi, J, Marchi, M, and Velez, C. Problems in the measurement of latent variables in structural equations causal models. Applied Psychological Measurement. 1990;14:183-196.
Some problems in the measurement of latent variables in structural equations causal models are presented with examples from recent empirical studies. Latent variables that are theoretically the source of correlation among the empirical indicators are differentiated from unmeasured variables that are related to the empirical indicators for other reasons. It is pointed out that these should also be represented by different analytical models, and that much published research has treated this distinction as if it had no analytic consequences. The connection between this theoretical distinction and disattenuation effects in latent variable models is shown, and problems with these estimates are discussed. Recommendations are made for decisions about whether and how to measure latent variables when manifest variables are potentially available.
DeVellis, RF. Scale Development: Theory and Applications. Newbury Park: Sage, 1991.
Provides an overview of the rationale and methods involved in conceptualizing, developing, and validating measurement scales. Concepts underlying reliability assessments are discussed in some detail. A series of steps often followed in the scale development process are enumerated and described. Goal was to emphasize conceptual rather than computational aspects of scale development.
DeVellis, RF. A consumer’s guide to finding, evaluating, and reporting on measurement instruments. Arthritis Care and Research, 1996; 9 :239-245.
This brief, nontechnical paper describes methods for finding appropriate measurement tools; evaluating the psychometric and other properties of measures to determine their utility for one’s intended research purpose; identifying common problems in the use and description of measurement instruments; and safeguarding one’s own measurement activities from common pitfalls. The material is aimed at novice researchers and practitioners as well as more experienced investigators.
Kline, P. An easy guide to factor analysis. New York: Routledge, 1994.
This overview of factor analysis principles and methods is suitable for readers with some prior statistical background but does not require familiarity with advanced multivariate techniques. Kline describes what factor analysis does, introduces principal components analysis and methods of extracting common factors, describes rotation, confirmatory methods and path analysis. He also specifically discusses the role of factor analysis in instrument construction with an emphasis on his own area of personality measures.
Kane, R. Understanding Health Care Outcomes Research. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen Publishers, 1997.
An introduction to the utility of outcome data in the process of making clinical decisions. It is a resource to health services researchers and clinicians who utilize patient-centered outcomes information in the context of care.
Nunnally, JC. Psychometric Theory, Second Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 1978.
This is the classic measurement text on which generations of social scientists cut their teeth. In some respects, the explanations of methods are clearer after one has some familiarity with them than they are to a novice and many readers find this volume a bit daunting the first time through. It is an extremely valuable reference, however.
Nunnally, JC & Bernstein, IH. Psychometric theory, Third Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
This revised edition of Nunnally’s classic measurement text is substantially expanded in the material it covers. Both theory and method of measurement are included. Classical and more contemporary (i.e., item response theory) approaches are compared. Computational methods such as factor analysis are examined in some detail. This is an excellent reference but may be a bit intimidating for those without some prior data analytic background.
Patrick DL, Erickson P. Health Status and Health Policy: Quality of Life in Health Care Evaluation and Resource Allocation. . New York: Oxford University Press; 1993.
A broad-based book on health policy issues in addition to measurement. With respect to measurement, includes chapters on theoretical foundations for health-related quality of life (HRQL), concepts of HRQL, types of assessments, assigning values to health states, and selecting an instrument.
Sudman S, Warnecke R, Johnson T, O’Rourke, D, and Davis, AM. Cognitive aspects of reporting cancer prevention examinations and tests. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 6(7). 1994.
Describes cognitive aspects of survey research including focus groups and think-aloud interviews applied to specific problem of assessing past receipt of cancer prevention tests and examinations.
Suzman, RM, Willis, DP and Manton, KG. (Eds) The Oldest Old. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
This book is an overview of issues in understanding the oldest-old in the U.S., but several chapters pertain to conceptual and measurement issues. These include chapters on collecting data about the oldest-old, interview survey issues with the oldest old, and conceptual issues in designing and analyzing longitudinal health surveys of the oldest old.
Teresi, J. Overview of methodological issues in the study of chronic care populations. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders. 1994;8 (Suppl):S247-S273.
The article addresses comprehensively methodological issues related to chronic care populations, including a statement of problems, consideration of possible solutions, and the pros and cons associated with different methodological approaches.
Teresi J and Golden R. Latent structure methods for estimating item bias, item validity and prevalence using cognitive and other geriatric screening measures. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders. 1994;8 (Suppl):S291-S298.
This article presents some examples of the effects of item bias and discusses some models that can be used to maximize unbiased classifications. An unbiased indicator is one that behaves in the same manner and is inferred to be measuring the same underlying attribute across comparison subgroups, and has the same valid-positive and false-positive rates (the same sensitivities and specificities) for each subgroup.
Teresi J and Holmes D. Overview of methodological issues in gerontological and geriatric measurement, Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 1994;14:1-22.
This chapter provides and overview of methodological issues raised by different authors with respect to construct and measures presented in volume 14 of the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. While some measurement problems (e.g., response bias) may apply to specific age cohorts, the authors argue that many measurement problems are not necessarily a function of the age cohort assessed, but of the varying distributions, rates, or ratios of the underlying attribute when measured across different samples of elderly, ranging from the normal well to the chronically impaired.
Teresi J and Holmes D. Reporting source bias in estimating prevalence of cognitive impairment. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1997;50:175-184.
Reporting source bias was examined using cognitive data from a probability sample of adult day health care (ADHC) clients. Data were obtained from four sources: client, family, staff, chart. These data suggest that prevalence estimates are influenced by the reporting source and method of assessment, with chart diagnoses yielding the least convergent estimates. Different statistics are reviewed in the context of agreement and association. Examination of agreement summary statistics and bias indices show that both staff and family underreport prevalence of cognitive impairment, but that more bias is associated with staff than is with family sources. Such bias should be considered in studies of prevalence estimation of cognitive impairment.
Teresi, J, Lawton, P, Holmes, D, & Ory, M (eds). Measurement issues in older chronic care populations," Journal of Mental Heath and Aging, v.2, 1996.
This issue of the Journal of Mental Health and Aging contains reviews of measures that can be used in chronic care settings among individuals whose assessment is complicated because of factors such as frailty, perceptual and communication problems, and advanced cognitive impairment. This volume contains reviews in the areas of cognition, communication, vision, behavior, personality, depression, and affect.
Teresi, J, Lawton, P., Holmes, D and Ory M (eds). Measurement Issues in Older Chronic Populations, Part II. J of Mental Health and Aging, v. 3, 1997.
This is the second part of the two-part issue of the Journal of Mental Health and Aging that reviews measures for use in chronic care settings serving older adults. This set of reviews focus on areas of medical comorbidity, functional capacity, social supports and service use, environmental assessment, and on measuring cost of care.
Jeanne A. Teresi, Leo S. Morales, and John A. Fleishman, "Assessing Measurement Equivalence Across Populations: Differential Item Functioning (DIF)" Papers presented at Item Response Theory (IRT) and Applications of IRT for Improving Health Outcomes Measurement Preconference, June 2004. Available at http://outcomes.cancer.gov/conference/irt/program.html
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Examination of differential item functioning (DIF) has become central to the investigation of cultural equivalence of measures. These papers provide an overview of the different approaches to investigating DIF, examines the DIF of the Mini-Mental Exam in Spanish and English, and provides an example of adjusting for DIF using multiple-indicator, multiple cause structural equation models, also termed MIMIC models.
Papers on Multilevel Modeling, http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/papers/mlmpapers.htm
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A wide variety of papers on methodology and issues concerning multilevel modeling.
Wallace, RB and Woolson, RF. The Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Summarizes major conceptual and logistical issues in investigating health problems of older persons in a population context. Book sections include issues in surveying older persons, meausrement themes in the elderly (e.g., social support, physical functioning, cross-cultural research) and analytic issues in epidemiologic studies of the elderly.
Wilson IB and Cleary PD. Linking clinical variables with health-related quality of life. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1995;273:59-65.
Presents an overall conceptual framework of links between biological/physiological variables, symptoms, functioning, health perceptions, and overall quality of life, taking into account characteristics of the individual and the environment. Attempt to organize plethora of health indicators into a coherent model.
Last updated December 2005
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