IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0226960.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Awareness of treatment: A source of bias in subjective grading of ocular complications

Author

Listed:
  • Genis Cardona
  • Noelia Esterich

Abstract

Purpose: Bias has been described as one important obstacle in scientific research. The aim of this study was to explore “awareness of treatment” as a possible source of bias in subjective grading of ocular complications. Methods: Thirty subjects with similar, basic experience with grading scales participated in the study. The Efron grading scales were used to grade 24 images of three different ocular conditions (eight images each of bulbar hyperaemia, limbal vascularization and corneal staining). Three consecutive, two weeks apart, grading sessions were scheduled, in which the same images were graded, although in the third session images were deceptively labelled as either “treated” or “untreated”. Grading results from the first and second sessions were compared to determine grading reliability and discrepancies with the third session informed of grading bias originating from “awareness of treatment”. Results: Moderate to good test-retest reliability was found for all conditions, with median intraclass correlation values of 0.80 (0.62–0.84) for bulbar hyperaemia, 0.68 (0.65–0.77) for limbal vascularization and 0.68 (0.66–0.74) for corneal staining. Grading values from the first and third sessions evidenced negative and positive systematic errors (bias) for “treated” and “untreated” conditions, respectively. Statistically significant differences were found between the average grading discrepancies of session 1 and session 2 and those of session 1 and session 3 (all p

Suggested Citation

  • Genis Cardona & Noelia Esterich, 2019. "Awareness of treatment: A source of bias in subjective grading of ocular complications," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0226960
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226960
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226960
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226960&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0226960?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Liljequist & Britt Elfving & Kirsti Skavberg Roaldsen, 2019. "Intraclass correlation – A discussion and demonstration of basic features," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-35, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kirsti Skavberg Roaldsen & Alexandra Halvarsson, 2019. "Reliability of the Swedish version of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale assessing physiotherapist’s attitudes to implementation of evidence-based practice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-10, November.
    2. M. Haas & S. Scheibe & E. El Khawli & M. Künzi & A. Ihle & N. Ballhausen & D. Framorando & M. Kliegel & S. Zuber, 2022. "Online assessment of cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan using the eCOGTEL: a reliable alternative to laboratory testing," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 609-619, September.
    3. Begoña Cueto & Patricia Suárez & Matías Mayor, 2021. "Effects of human capital and regional context on entrepreneurial survival," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(2), pages 331-357, April.
    4. Ajax Persaud & Javid Zare, 2023. "Institutional varieties, governance quality, and firm‐level innovation in emerging economies: Case of India," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 234-259, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0226960. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.