Table 2.
Quality assessment criteria
| Quality criterion | Optimum | Adequate | Least valuable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design & data collection methods | Longitudinal | Cross-sectional survey or case-control study | Case series without controls or comparison groups |
| Purpose | Specifically designed to collect childhood disability data | General purpose survey including questions on childhood disability | Inadequate childhood disability data |
| Data collection methods | Interview based | Interview based | Postal questionnaire based |
| Quantitative/qualitative | Combined quantitative & qualitative data on childhood disability | Quantitative only for prevalence estimation; qualitative only to study impact of disability on household | Either quantitative or qualitative data that cannot be adequately used to estimate prevalence or impact |
| Definitions & classifications of disability/impairment | Definition that is widely used, internationally validated & comparable with other data sets | Less than optimal definition but sufficiently detailed to allow reasonable prevalence estimates to be made | Unclear definition that does not allow comparison with other data sets |
| Sampling & sample | Representative of households with children in study country & sufficient size to enable prevalence estimates of less common impairments. | Representative of households with children in study country | Non-representative samples OR Small samples with inadequate numbers to make reliable prevalence estimates |
| Response rates | Full information on response rates with low non-response (< 10%) | Limited information on response rates or non-response (10-20%) | No response information or high response rates (> 20%) |
| Household measures of SES & socio-demographic characteristics | Data covering measures of income, parental education, household wealth & assets in addition to other socio-demographic characteristics including ethnicity, marital status, parental age, parental disability | Limited measures of SES such as maternal education only OR SES measures but limited data on other socio-demographic characteristics | No valid measures of SES or S-D characteristics |
| Information on child | Data on age, sex, school attendance | Limited information on age but no other data | No data on child - only on household as a whole |
| Information on children (< 19 years) living outside the home | Complete data on all children | Limited data on all children | No data on children living outside the home |